The following is not a case I am involved with, but I had a talk about UPS work injuries in Illinois and I thought it was worth a post.

The gist is that a driver was badly injured in an accident and has had multiple surgeries. He’s pissed because he feels that his accident was avoidable due to a problem with the vehicle. He also said that drivers are getting hurt every day due to similar vehicle issues.

What he wanted to know is why he can not sue UPS for these injuries beyond work comp. I explained that the basis for work comp laws is that you can not sue your employer for negligence. In exchange, you do not have to prove fault in Illinois work comp claims. Even if you fall asleep at the wheel and crash, you’d still be able to bring a work comp case.

Now this worker has a lawyer who basically blew him off when he asked these questions. While he can’t sue UPS, there are a couple of things he can do.

First he could file a complaint with the Illinois OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration). There job is to ensure safe work sites. They have the ability to come out and inspect vehicles and order changes.

Second of course he can go through his union. It’s really something they should handle. They are really strong on compensation issues for their members. Hopefully they’d raise this issue as well.

And finally, even though his work comp attorney can’t sue over this, they can raise the issue too. The company has a motivation to avoid work comp costs. They also want to settle this case so they can close out his medical rights. Before doing so, his lawyer can ask for a commitment to make changes to the vehicles to make them safer.

Now the insurance company/UPS can tell him to pound salt and the work comp lawyer would not have much leverage beyond keeping the case open if they do. But that does not stop them from raising the issue. It is out the box thinking and it is certainly possible that someone will learn of this problem and make a meaningful change.

In fact there are risk managers at UPS whose job is to look for these types of fixes. Maybe nothing happens and maybe reaching out to them prevents future injuries. For UPS it’s my best guess that it will not come down to safety, but costs.

But you never know if you don’t ask. To me, this is part of being a full service attorney. Even if your lawyer only handles work comp cases, is it really that much trouble to raise this issue or make a phone call? It shouldn’t be. Would I do this for a worker who had a back strain and missed two weeks of work? Probably not.

But if a worker has had multiple surgeries and you stand to make a very large fee off their case, it’s the least you can do in my opinion.

I see this all of the time where a work comp attorney in Illinois is so insistent that they just handle the work injury part, that they show no empathy toward their client and don’t take simple steps that could help them. Maybe you refer them to another attorney. Maybe you make a phone call or write an email. Maybe you bring it up in settlement discussions. But to do nothing is shameful and a sign that the worker should get someone new in their corner.