We have been helping injured workers in Illinois since 1997 and would love to help you. Please call us at 312-346-5578 for a free consult or click on the live chat button. We help everywhere in Illinois.
Most injured workers that we come across want to get better and get back to work. It can be stressful dealing with an injury and sitting around all day. There also many people who make more money by being able to work than collecting weekly TTD checks.
A lot of employers are willing to work with their injured employees to try and find suitable work within their restrictions. In other words, if you have a back injury and your doctor says you can not lift more than 20 pounds, a reputable employer will provide you with work that does not require this. They will even assign someone to help you complete tasks when lifting is involved.
Not all employers will do this and some simply can’t. So what happens when your employer can’t accommodate your restrictions following a work injury?
There are two things to consider in this situation. The first is what happens when you are undergoing medical care? During that time, if your employer can not find work for you, you are entitled to receive temporary total disability benefits (TTD). That is tax free compensation of 2/3 of your average weekly wage. Unlike other states, under Illinois law there is no cap on how long these benefits can be paid.
We have seen some cases where some “smart” employer brings you back within your restrictions, but then fires you for a BS reason. The good news is that if you get fired for any reason and are on restrictions, you immediately go back on TTD payments.
So the simple rule is if you are under medical care and you can not work due to restrictions from a job injury, you get paid until you are all better or your employer finds work for you.
The more concerning issues that injured Illinois workers have is a worry that they will never be able to go back to their old job. For many that is a really legitimate fear. The good news is the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act protects you.
When you finish your medical care, you are considered to be at maximum medical improvement or MMI. The goal is for you to be released back to your old job, but some workers have restrictions that the employer can not accommodate. At that point, TTD stops, but can continue in another form called maintenance.
What has to happen is you need to start looking for work within your restrictions. As long as you do so and provide proof to the insurance company, maintenance benefits should be paid. This payment is paid at the same rate as TTD. You should have your lawyer explain how to properly look for work and document it. If you fail to do it right, not only could your benefits get cut off, but it could reduce the value of your case by hundreds of thousands of dollars. THERE’S A LOT AT RISK!!!
If you need help with the job search such as putting together a resume or identifying potential employers, you can not only get that help, you can choose who does it and work comp insurance has to pay for it. This is called vocational rehabilitation. There are trained professionals who can do an assessment on your qualifications and work with you to find a suitable job. They can also, depending on your age and life skills, recommend things like re-training.
In other words, if you have a major back injury and have only worked construction, but are in your 30’s, they might suggest that you go to school to get a degree. If that happens, work comp insurance would have to pay for that and continue to pay you while off work. All of this is considered medical care.
If you are able to find a job within your restrictions and the pay is similar to what you would be making in the old job, all that is likely left is to settle your case. If you have a new job, but are experiencing a wage loss, you are likely entitled to wage differential benefits. Those payments are 2/3 of what you would have made in the old job compared to what you can make in the new job. So if the old job paid you $150,000 a year and the new job is for $75,000, you would get $50,000 a year tax free. Those benefits are typically paid weekly and last for five years OR until you turn 65, whichever is longer. So a 30 year old in that scenario would get $1,750,000 in benefits until they hit 65.
If the vocational counselor determines that you can not work any job due to your injuries, restrictions and other factors (such as age, language abilities, job history) then you could be found to be permanently disabled. In that case you could receive permanent disability payments. Those benefits are significant and can be as high as the maximum allowed TTD rate. In other words, it could provide more than $100,000 in annual, tax free compensation for life.
All workers can seek a lump sum settlement at any time. If you are eligible for wage differential or permanent disability benefits, it’s likely that a settlement would be somewhere in the six figures depending on your age and life expectancy. And while attorney fees are usually 20% of what is recovered, in most of these cases the lawyer fees are much less than that as there is a cap on how much an attorney can receive.
These types of situations require lawyers who are not only experienced, but have a proven track record of success. Every attorney in our state wide network has handled hundreds of high value cases like this. The right attorney is not only the difference between winning and losing, but can result in hundreds of thousands more in your pocket at the end of the day.
If you would like a free consultation for help anywhere in Illinois, please call us at 312-346-5578 any time.
