Note this is about Illinois workers’ compensation law for truck drivers. That means work-related injuries on the job.
Truck drivers often get misclassified as 1099 employees or owner-operators. This is done for many reasons including a goal of not paying benefits when a driver gets injured on the job. This happens a lot with “fly by night” companies meaning places that open and close up under different names all of the time. It also happens with bigger Illinois trucking companies who know they are breaking the law. Those are the ones we go after after an injury occurs.
The good news is that under Illinois law, if we can prove that the employer had “control” over you, we can likely successfully recover benefits for you.
How To Prove An Injured Truck Driver Is An Employee Not A 1099
To show you are an employee, there are 12 factors we usually look at in making a free case evaluation. They come from a case called Robeson. The 12 factors are:
- Do they have safety director/safety meetings/safety bulletins/manuals
- Is there a placard on side of truck?
- Does dispatch-do they tell them where to go on routes etc?
- Gas card-do they give them a company card or do they pay out of pocket?
- DOT- do they require you to get one every year-who pays/or reimbursed?
- Violations-do you have to report any speeding/other violations right away-can get fined etc?
- Only worked for this company no outside work?
- Cannot take on unauthorized passengers right?
- Does the company own the truck?
- Cannot refuse a load?
- Are you required to log and given logs by company or use company ELD in truck
- Are you required to do pre-trip inspection reports etc?
How Many Steps You Need To Prove In Order To Win
What is important to know is that you do not show all 12 of these things are true. The more that are true, the more likely it is that you are an employee even if you have been misclassified.
In my experience, not being able to refuse a load, being told where to go and not being allowed to work for another company are the big ones. But the more things on this list that are true, the more likely it is that you win. This is true even if you signed something that said you are a 1099 or they paid you that way.
Being a 1099 means you work for yourself. If that is true then you set your own schedule, driver where you want, when you want and set your pay rates. If these things are not true, then they are likely trying to skirt this system.
If you would like a free case evaluation, we are happy to help. We have worked with hundreds of truck drivers since 2001 and have had a lot of success. Contact us any time at 312-346-5578.
