I saw this posted on a legal Q&A forum and I thought it was worth discussing here. An injured Illinois worker asked the following: I work in a hospital and I hurt my back crawling on a cement floor putting cell slides away on August 23rd the same day I told my Supervisor. My Supervisor … Continue Reading
Most Illinois workers’ compensation cases are one injury. You slip on a wet floor and hurt your knee. You type too much and get carpal tunnel. You lift a heavy object and throw out your back. You get the idea. Sometimes though your work injury can cause a new injury. You see it the most … Continue Reading
A reader of our Illinois work injury blog asked us about what happens if he settles and then re-injures the same body part or otherwise feels pain and wants to go to the doctor. Under Illinois law these are two very different scenarios even though they revolve around the general same idea. Under scenario #1, … Continue Reading
Under Illinois work comp law, you are entitled to medical care and compensation for accidents that “arise out of and in the course of your employment.” In plain English this generally means that if you are hurt doing your job or something that benefits your employer and get injured, you have a case. When it … Continue Reading
When you think of opening a door, you don’t think of any risks being associated with that. My office door is so light that it’s almost comical. In fact I don’t think there is any time of day when I come across a door that provides any challenge to me. Of course not all doors … Continue Reading
I work with some great, friendly people. While in my 20+ year career I’ve seen some people that acted crazy, I’ve been fortunate to never work with a psychopath. Hopefully you are in that situation too. Some people unfortunately have to work with nut jobs. I’ve seen more and more examples lately of people with … Continue Reading
Here’s a good one to know. When you are a traveling employee in Illinois, if your employer can “reasonably forsee” that you might do an activity, if you get hurt while doing that you have a case. What does “reasonably forsee” mean? It’s been pretty broadly interpreted to mean that most injuries you have while … Continue Reading
Of all the things true about Illinois work injury law, the truest is that no matter how nice the insurance company is acting or how obvious your case is, if the insurance company can come up with any reason to deny your benefits, they will. And when I say any reason, it’s often a ridiculous … Continue Reading
We are a Chicago injury law firm that helps people with accidents anywhere in Illinois. We are experienced and fight for our clients for whom we get great results. If you’d like our help fill out our contact form or call us at (312) 346-5578 for a free consultation. In over 20 years of being … Continue Reading
A reader asks: I was injured at work while transferring a resident, would I get covered by the workers comp even if I did not use a gait belt? Good question. Generally speaking, you have to follow the rules set forth by your company. But whether or not you have an Illinois work comp case … Continue Reading
It’s not unusual for an employer to call employees independent contractors when they are really employees. They typically do it to avoid payroll taxes and to try to get out of work comp claims. We see this mostly with truck drivers, but it’s not limited to that profession. Recently a Chicago carpenter went through nonsense … Continue Reading
We represent anyone with an Illinois work injury in any part of the state. We’ve represented athletes, Fortune 500 executives, janitors, teachers, all sorts of laborers, flight attendants, UPS workers, Amazon employees, etc. I can’t think of a profession that we haven’t helped in 20+ years of being a lawyer. But we’ve probably helped more … Continue Reading
Very rarely am I shocked when I see an Illinois work injury claim denied, but a recent one I read about shocked me. First off a little background. When you have a job, you are given job duties, but in general your job is to do things that benefit your employer. So while my very … Continue Reading
As anyone in the Chicago area can tell you, the roads have been terrible as of late. If you haven’t seen a car that has been in accident from sliding on ice, you haven’t been out much. In general, accidents while driving to work are not covered under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act. So if … Continue Reading
Many Illinois companies make you feel like you aren’t a real employee until they say so. That can be done through probationary periods or a time of extended training. Often it’s a way to pay you less for a short time or to make firing you easier. It happens with small companies and even big … Continue Reading
The most common Illinois workers’ compensation law question we get is, “How much is my case worth?” The second most common question we get is “Do I have a case?” An interesting scenario came up in a recent call from a worker who wondered if they had a case or not. She had put in … Continue Reading
There is perhaps no rule more misunderstood under Illinois workers’ compensation law than what it means if you test positive for drugs or alcohol following a work related accident. First things first, your company has an absolute right to give you a drug test. Most people know that. What I keep seeing get confused is … Continue Reading
Hopefully you work for a company that is throwing some sort of office/Christmas/holiday party for you and your co-workers. It’s not as good as a cash gift, but it’s nice to have a fun evening with your co-workers. Just playing the percentages and certainly when you add in alcohol, someone is likely to get hurt … Continue Reading
I’ve written on this blog a few times that one of the ways an employer, usually a trucking company but not always, tries to screw you out of Illinois workers’ compensation benefits is to call you an independent contractor when you are really an employee. If you aren’t an employee then you can’t get benefits. … Continue Reading
It’s a fact that most of the cases in the Chicago area, including the suburbs, are handled by Chicago based workers’ compensation attorneys. So if you go to the court hearings in Wheaton or New Lenox and survey the lawyers, you’ll find that most of them are based out of downtown, especially the ones who … Continue Reading
Bo Jackson is probably the best athlete I’ve ever seen. Think about it, he won the Heisman Trophy, was a stud in the NFL until he got hurt (I hope he got a work comp claim) and was an All-Star in baseball. He was powerful yet graceful at the same time and did some of … Continue Reading
One of the principles of Illinois workers’ compensation law is that if you get injured doing something that most people in Illinois have to do every day, it’s not a case. So if you are walking and your knee just gives out for no reason or your feet hurt from standing all day, that’s usually … Continue Reading
One of the funniest movies ever is “Animal House” and the best scene is when Chicago’s own John Belushi gives a speech at the end. He says, “Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!” I thought of this … Continue Reading
I just read an interesting case. In general, most people don’t “work” their entire work shift. You might be grabbing a cup of coffee or talking about your weekend plans or taking part in office gossip at various times in the day. Most people will have to use the bathroom or will find a few … Continue Reading
A reader of our Illinois work injury blog asked us about what happens if he settles and then re-injures the same body part or otherwise feels pain and wants to go to the doctor. Under Illinois law these are two very different scenarios even though they revolve around the general same idea. Under scenario #1, … Continue Reading
Under Illinois work comp law, you are entitled to medical care and compensation for accidents that “arise out of and in the course of your employment.” In plain English this generally means that if you are hurt doing your job or something that benefits your employer and get injured, you have a case. When it … Continue Reading
When you think of opening a door, you don’t think of any risks being associated with that. My office door is so light that it’s almost comical. In fact I don’t think there is any time of day when I come across a door that provides any challenge to me. Of course not all doors … Continue Reading
I work with some great, friendly people. While in my 20+ year career I’ve seen some people that acted crazy, I’ve been fortunate to never work with a psychopath. Hopefully you are in that situation too. Some people unfortunately have to work with nut jobs. I’ve seen more and more examples lately of people with … Continue Reading
Here’s a good one to know. When you are a traveling employee in Illinois, if your employer can “reasonably forsee” that you might do an activity, if you get hurt while doing that you have a case. What does “reasonably forsee” mean? It’s been pretty broadly interpreted to mean that most injuries you have while … Continue Reading
Of all the things true about Illinois work injury law, the truest is that no matter how nice the insurance company is acting or how obvious your case is, if the insurance company can come up with any reason to deny your benefits, they will. And when I say any reason, it’s often a ridiculous … Continue Reading
We are a Chicago injury law firm that helps people with accidents anywhere in Illinois. We are experienced and fight for our clients for whom we get great results. If you’d like our help fill out our contact form or call us at (312) 346-5578 for a free consultation. In over 20 years of being … Continue Reading
A reader asks: I was injured at work while transferring a resident, would I get covered by the workers comp even if I did not use a gait belt? Good question. Generally speaking, you have to follow the rules set forth by your company. But whether or not you have an Illinois work comp case … Continue Reading
It’s not unusual for an employer to call employees independent contractors when they are really employees. They typically do it to avoid payroll taxes and to try to get out of work comp claims. We see this mostly with truck drivers, but it’s not limited to that profession. Recently a Chicago carpenter went through nonsense … Continue Reading
The most common Illinois workers’ compensation law question we get is, “How much is my case worth?” The second most common question we get is “Do I have a case?” An interesting scenario came up in a recent call from a worker who wondered if they had a case or not. She had put in … Continue Reading
One of the funniest movies ever is “Animal House” and the best scene is when Chicago’s own John Belushi gives a speech at the end. He says, “Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!” I thought of this … Continue Reading
