Chicago Workers Compensation Lawyer Blog

According to the Workers Compensation Research Institute, Illinois’ workers’ compensation expenses per claim for medical care are on the higher end of the spectrum compared to the costs for the same kind of claims in other US states. WCRI’s study also found that after hitting growth rates in the double digits prior to 2005, the increase in medical costs per claim went down in ’07- ’08 and—just as it has in past years—indemnity benefits/claims involving workers that had to miss over seven days of work grew 7% in ’07- ’08.

The growth in indemnity benefits can be attributed to a 6% rise in the length of temporary disability “and a 5% increase in the average permanent partial disability (PPD)/lump-sum payment per PPD/lump-sum claim.” With total costs per all paid Illinois workers’ compensation claims at $11,224/claim in ’05 – ‘08, the WCRI says these paid for claims were among the highest compared to the other states that were included in the study. Also, more injured workers in Illinois missed over a week of work and/or missed work an average of 20 weeks in ’05 -‘08—4 weeks more than the injured workers missed in other non-wage-loss states. Illinois ranked in the middle when it came to average lump-sum workers’ compensation settlements per claim.

Illinois Workers’ Compensation
If you are an injured worker, it is important that you are familiar with your right to receive Illinois workers’ compensation benefits. In most cases involving work-related injuries, you cannot sue your employer for personal injury—although you may have grounds for filing a third party Chicago injury lawsuit. It will be very important for you to receive all of the work injury benefits that your employer owes you.

Illinois Workers’ Compensation Medical Costs Per Claim among Highest, but Growth Slowed, New WCRI Study Reports, Earth Times, February 1, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Workers Compensation Research Institute

Illinois Workers' Compensation Act

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A new study published in Spine reports that patients who underwent surgery to treat sciatica benefited more from surgery than from non-surgical procedures. That is, unless the patient was getting paid workers’ compensation benefits for the work injury. The reason for this discrepancy is unclear.

As part of the main study, researchers analyzed data provided on 924 sciatica patients. A randomized trial was conducted. Some patients were treated with pain medication, physical therapy, exercises, and education. Other patients underwent surgery. Both approaches proved effective and the patients’ conditions improved. However, sciatica patients who underwent surgery improved faster and exhibited better recovery results for up to two years afterward.

Researchers also conducted a new analysis to see whether patients receiving workers’ compensation responded differently to treatment. 12% of the patients studied were on workers’ compensation. What researchers found was that at three months after surgery it was the patients who weren’t getting workers’ compensation benefits that exhibited significantly better results. The patients who weren't on workers' compensation also stayed better after 24 months, while surgery patients on workers’ compensation experienced pain and exhibited physical function similar to sciatica patients who had undergone non-surgical treatment.

Sciatica
Sciatica is a disabling condition that is commonly cited in workers’ compensation claims. Studies in the past have indicated that a sciatica patient’s workers’ compensation status can have an impact on the results of herniated disc treatments. Sciatica can be very painful and may lead to nerve damage that can radiate through the body and leg. If not treated correctly, Sciatica can become a permanent, crippling condition.

Back injuries can not only impede a worker’s ability to do the job, but they can cause severe pain and lead to the inability to live a normal life. It is important that you file your Illinois workers’ compensation claim immediately.

Study: Workers’ Comp Patients Get Less Benefit from Back Surgery, Spine, January 29, 2010

Sciatica, Mayo Clinic

Related Web Resources:
Spine

Herniated Disc, WebMD

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A construction worker died today after he was run over by a forklift. The construction accident took place at a work site at a children’s hospital. The 30-year-old worker was pronounced dead at the accident scene.

Forklift Accidents
Forklifts are used at many work areas in the US on a daily basis. This heavy piece of machinery must be operated correctly and workers in the vicinity must be careful that they don’t get in its way. Unfortunately, forklift accidents are not uncommon and cause a number of US worker fatalities every year.

Some Common Kinds of Work Accidents Involving Forklifts:
• A worker gets hit by a forklift
• A forklift tips over to land on a worker
• A load that falls off a forklift lands on a worker
• The operator loses control of the forklift, which runs over another worker

Some Common Causes of Forklift Accidents:
• The operator does not know how to use a forklift correctly
• Improper safety procedures
• A forklift malfunction that was caused by poor maintenance or a part defect
• The operator loses control of the forklift
• Overloaded forklifts
• Inadequate operator training
• Lack of proper communication among workers and supervisors

Examples of Serious Injuries Caused by Forklift Accidents:
• Crush injuries
• Broken bones
• Spinal cord injuries
• Internal injuries

An experience Chicago construction accident law firm can help you determine who should be held liable for your for Illinois forklift accident case. In addition to filing third party lawsuits against the responsible parties that are not your employer, you will want your employers’ insurer to pay you your Illinois workers’ compensation benefits.

Construction Worker Run Over, Killed by Forklift, MyFoxPhoenix, January 29, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Illinois Department of Labor

If an employee gets hurt while working for a vendor under an Illinois-operated program and the state and the vendor both benefit from the work and oversee certain aspects of the employee’s work, then the vendor and the state of Illinois are liable for the worker’s injuries as joint employees under the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act. The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission is affirming this finding, which was made by an arbitrator.

The case, Day v. Illinois, State of/Dept. of Human Services, involves an employee who got hurt while working as a replacement manager. The vendor had hired him under a program run by the Illinois Department of Human Services called the Business Enterprise Program for the Blind. The worker abided by the regulations and rules as outlined in the vendor’s licensing agreement.

As joint employers at the time of the work accident, the vendor oversaw and controlled the worker’s daily tasks at the facility, while the DHS trained the worker in the running of the facility and was entitled to monitor his work. The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission agreed with the arbitrator that there was significant evidence in the licensing agreement that the DHS was entitled to control the employee’s work.

Do NOT give up hope if your employer has decided to deny paying you Illinois workers’ compensation benefits. Most workers in the state are entitled to work injury benefits in the event of any kind of work-related illness or injury. Unfortunately, many workers are unaware of their legal options and end up settling for less than what they are entitled to get under state law. This is where an experienced Chicago, Illinois workers’ compensation lawyer can step in.

Worker proves joint employment with vendor, State of Illinois, RIsk and Insurance, January 21, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Illinois Department of Human Services

Illinois Workers' Compensation Act

A BNSF Railway Company worker is suing his employer for work-related injuries. Kenneth D. Johnson is seeking over 100,000 plus costs.

Johnson says he began working for the railroad as a machinist on August 9, 1968. His duties included installing and taking off turbo screens on locomotives, installing inertial filters, working with pipe engines, changing oil coolers, working on train engines, and sitting hatches.

Johnson says that due to the repetitive strain and stress of his work and the kind of tasks that he had to perform, he sustained permanent and serious injuries. He also suffered shoulder pain, shoulder deterioration, permanent disfigurement, and permanent disability. Johnson is claiming pain and suffering, lost wages, medical bills, and the inability to live a normal life.

Johnson is accusing BNSF of negligence, including their failures to provide him with the proper work tools, give him enough space to do his job, provide him a safe area to work, and adequately take care of employees’ safety. Johnson says that BNSF gave him improper equipment to do his job and required that he work in physical positions that made him susceptible to injury.

Contrary to popular belief, Illinois train accidents and railroad blasts are not the only causes of serious injuries to railroad workers. Many railroad injuries are cumulative, causing the worker's condition to deteriorate over a number of years until he/she has been rendered permanently disabled. Repetitive strain, soft tissue injuries, back injuries, shoulder injuries, and illnesses from exposure to toxic substances and solvents are some of the more common railroad worker injuries.

After years of service as a railroad worker, it is devastating to find out that you were permanently injured because you were doing your job. Fortunately, the Federal Employee Liability Act allows workers to obtain damages for medical costs, pain and suffering, lost income, therapy, rehabilitation, and other related damages.

Veteran machinist claims repetitive trauma in suit against BNSF, Madison Record, January 22, 2010

Related Web Resources:
BNSF

Repetitive Strain Injuries, Los Angeles Times

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According to the Illinois Supreme Court, an employer has to keep paying workers’ compensation for temporary total disability benefits owed to an injured worker, even if he was fired from his job for misconduct. This obligation must continue until the former employee’s medical condition becomes stable and he achieves maximum medical improvement.

The former worker, carpenter Jeff Urban, sustained work-related neck, head, and back injuries in 2003 while working for Interstate Scaffolding Inc. In 2005, Urban was involved in a short, heated dispute with another worker. The company then fired him for the use of religious slogans to deface company property.

Interstate refused to pay Urban his Illinois workers’ compensation benefits after they let him go. A workers’ compensation arbitrator sided with Urban’s employer.

However, the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission disagreed, finding that the former employee should receive $1,004.41/week in temporary disability benefits. The company appealed, but a circuit court affirmed the commission’s decision. An appeals court then reversed the ruling and that is when the workers’ compensation case was brought before the Illinois Supreme Court.

Amicus briefs were filed by the Illinois Assn. of Defense Trial Counsel, the Illinois AFL-CIO, and the Illinois Self-Insurers Assn. Those who supported Urban argued that continued payment of work injury benefits shouldn’t be determined by whether a worker has been fired. Rather, the determining factor should be whether the injury has stabilized.

The Illinois Supreme Court says that although employers can fire at-will workers regardless of whether or not they have cause, this should have no effect on an employee's workers’ compensation case.

Illinois Workers’ Compensation
If you have been denied work injury benefits, do not despair. There may be other legal remedies available to you. Most workers injured on the job are entitled to Illinois workers’ compensation benefits.

Fired worker owed comp benefits: Illinois high court, Business Insurance, January 22, 2010

Read the Illinois Supreme Court Opinion (PDF)

Related Web Resource:
Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission

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A former employee is suing Metro Truck and Trailer Repair for compensatory damages, punitive damages, unpaid overtime pay, liquidated damages, and other costs. Stephen Ryan says that his former employer fired him because he filed a workers’ compensation claim. He is also accusing the trucking company of not properly paying workers for all of their overtime hours.

Ryan says he got hurt on the job on December 5, 2008. He says he told the foreman he would need to take time off so he could undergo surgery. Ryan claims that the foreman then started treated him in a less favorable manner than the other employees. He also allegedly told one of Ryan’s coworkers that he was planning on firing him.

Ryan had to tell his boss in July 2009 that he needed more time off because of his work injury. In August, the truck company fired him.

Ryan claims that his rights under the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act were not upheld and as a result, he suffered distress, mental suffering, and humiliation. He also says he lost wages.

Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act
Under state law, a worker cannot be fired for availing of his Illinois workers’ compensation benefits. Employees are protected from personal injury lawsuits from workers injured on the job. They should, however, pay the workers’ compensation that an injured employee is entitled to under state law. Unfortunately, an employer/insurer may offer reasons for why you shouldn’t receive your work injury benefits. This is unfortunate for the worker, who must take time off work, resulting in reduced or no pay, and deal with costly medical expenses.

Metro Truck worker claims retaliatory discharge, unpaid overtime, Madison Record, January 21, 2010

Related Web Resource:
Illinois Workers' Compensation Act (PDF)

Workplace Injury, Illness, and Fatality Statistics

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The family of a man who died after he fell in a melting vat while employed as a temporary worker is suing the owners of the chocolate plant where the fatal work accident happened for his wrongful death. Vincent Smith II was fatally injured on July 8, 2009.

He was placing raw cocoa into a giant melting tank when he fell into it and was hit on the head by a rotating panel. The hot liquid chocolate in the vat was 120 degrees.

According to the plaintiffs, there were no guardrails around the melting vat, which had slippery melted chocolate around it. They also say that there were no warning signs, an easily accessible shutoff valve, and or rescue gear. The family’s wrongful death lawyer said Smith was “invited into a death trap” and did not stand a chance of survival once he fell in. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Cocoa Services and Lyons for failing to install warning signs and railings over the tanks.

Lyons and Sons, Inc. and Cocoa Services are among the numerous defendants named in the wrongful death lawsuit.

Workers’ Compensation and Third Party Lawsuits
Most workers are entitled to Illinois workers’ compensation benefits, which include payment of medical benefits, as well as pay for permanent total disability, permanent partial disability, and temporary total disability. An experienced Chicago workers’ compensation lawyer can make sure you receive all the work injury benefits that you are owed.

Although you cannot sue your employer for personal injury, you may be able to sue liable third parties that are not your employer. This is a matter that a Chicago injury attorney can help you figure out.

Suit filed in death at chocolate plant, Philly.com, January 12, 2010

Factory Worker Dies After Falling Into Vat of Chocolate, FoxNews, July 8, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Illinois Industrial Commission

OSHA

According to a new study by the National Council on Compensation Insurance, the workers’ compensation indemnity expenses for workers over the age of 64 are usually lower than they are for younger workers, who are generally paid more. The NCCI has put together a detailed report on workers’ compensation injury claims by older workers. Among its findings:

• Since the ‘80’s, there has been a nearly 50% increase in the number of workers ages 65 and older.

• This worker age demographic is expected to increase in the wake of the current economic crisis.

• Better health is another reason why there are more older workers that have either opted to keep working or go back to work.

• This older worker age group makes up just under 5% of worker injury and illness cases.

• Trip and fall accidents, slip and fall accidents, and fall accidents on the job were the most common cause of injury to older workers. NCCI is recommending that employers provide better lighting, handrails, and slip-resistant flooring to decrease the number of work accidents.

• Medical severity tends to be higher for older employees.

If you were injured or got sick while doing job, you should file your Illinois workers’ compensation claim right away. It doesn’t matter whether you, another party, or your employer caused your work accident or illness. The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act entitles most employees to work injury benefits for injuries and sicknesses.

Our Chicago, Illinois workers’ compensation lawyers are committed to making sure that our clients receive all of the benefits that they are owed and that there are no unnecessary payment delays.

Workers Over 65 Have Lower Comp Indemnity Cost, NCCI Finds, Property-Casualty.com, January 18, 2010

Read the Full Report (PDF)

Related Web Resources:
Workers' Compensation, Nolo

US Department of Labor

According to an appeals court, a master plumber who broke his legs and an arm when he was involved in a car crash is eligible to receive full workers’ compensation benefits. Jesse Cooper Sr., employed by Barnickel Enterprises Inc., went for a coffee run while waiting to meet with a union instructor, who was busy teaching a class, about a work project. During the five-mile drive to get coffee, Cooper was involved in a traffic crash.

Barnickel did not want to pay Cooper workers’ compensation benefits and argued that the work injury did not occur during and as a result of work. Rather, the company claimed that Cooper was injured while attending to a personal errand, for which, per the state’s Supreme Court, disallows work injury benefits.

However, Workers’ Compensation Judge Bradley Henson says that the foreman was taking part in the kind of activity that someone in his job would likely engage in. Henson also noted that because Cooper was participating in a “mission” for his employer by going to meet with the union instructor, his work accident thereby falls under the workers’ compensation act’s “going-and-coming rule.”

The appeals court’s ruling upholds Henson’s conclusion that Cooper was entitled to go on a coffee break while waiting to meet with the union instructor. Judge Edwin Stern also noted that considering the amount of time Cooper had to wait to meet with the instructor and the fact that the area he was in was a rural one, the five-mile distance that he drove to the coffee shop was reasonable.

Illinois Workers’ Compensation
There are a variety of reasons a company and/or its insurance firm might give to an injured worker for why he/she is not entitled to receive Illinois workers’ compensation benefits. Do not take these claims at face value.

Employee Injured in Five-Mile Drive for Coffee Is Eligible for Workers' Comp, Law.com, January 14, 2010

Read the Opinion (PDF)

Related Web Resources:
Illinois Workers' Compensation Act (PDF)

Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission

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Every year, thousands workers are killed during accidents that occur on the job. Hopefully, their families were entitled to death benefits through employers’ workers’ compensation plans. An injured worker and his/her family cannot sue an employer for personal injury, but the employee is usually entitled to Illinois work injury benefits regardless of who or what was the cause of the work accident.

With help of data from the Department of Labor, Forbes.com compiled a list of the most dangerous jobs in America for 2008. Included in the list:

• Fishing-related jobs. 50 fishing workers died in 2008. Dangerous weather, rough seas, and logistical challenges that can make it impossible to get help during emergency situations contribute to the high death risk these workers face in their line of work.

• 82 Logging workers died from work injuries. Faulty cutting equipment and falling trees were two common causes of logging deaths.

• 90 pilots aircraft pilots died in plane crashes and other work accidents.

• There were 37 structural iron and steel worker death. Common causes of worker fatalities included welding accidents, working at elevated heights, and working with heavy materials.

• 317 rancher and farmer deaths occurred. Heavy machinery hazards is the number one work danger for farm workers and ranchers.

• Traffic, dangerous materials, and heavy equipment are common reasons for recyclable and refuse material collector injuries. 31 workers died in 2008.

• 69 roofer deaths. Hot weather and the hazards of working at elevated heights are two of the most common work dangers for employees in this profession.

• 35 electrical power-line repairer and installer deaths. Electricity and working at elevated heights are two of the most common dangers these workers face.

• 815 trucker deaths. Traffic and fatigue were the two most common causes.

• 69 taxi driver and chauffer deaths. Navigating through traffic is the drivers’ number one work hazard.

Overall, transportation accidents was the most common cause of worker death. 2,053 workers died in vehicle-related crashes. 923 workers died from equipment accidents and objects-related injuries.

Regardless of your profession or the risks involved with doing your job, work accidents and illnesses do happen. An experienced Chicago, Illinois workers’ compensation law firm can make sure you receive all of the benefits that your employer’s insurer owes you.

Fishermen, loggers have most dangerous jobs, MSNBC, September 8, 2009

In Pictures: America's Deadliest Jobs, Forbes, August 26, 2009

Related Web Resources:
US Department of Labor

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Movie star Sylvester Stallone says he had to undergo serious surgery after he broke his neck while shooting a fight scene for his new film “The Expendables.” The 63-year-old action star says that doctors had to insert a metal plate in his neck to treat his work injury, which he sustained during a fight scene with Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Contrary to how easy actors make their job look onstage and on film, acting is a lot of hard work and can be very physically demanding. It can also lead to injuries whether you are a stunt double, an action hero, a stage actor, a standup comedian, a dancer, or an extra. Slip and fall injuries, vocal injuries, injuries from falling or malfunctioning props, stunt-related injuries, sunburns, fatigue, back injuries, neck injuries, and even death can result during an actor-related accident.

Also, although it is just the actors that viewers see on camera and onstage, there are many behind the scene workers who work very hard to make any film or theaterical production happen. Production assistants, the director, producers, writers, stagehands, camera persons, lighting crew, and other workers can also get hurt while doing their job in a studio or at the theater. Fortunately, most film, TV, and theater professionals are entitled to Illinois workers’ compensation in the event of work-related injury, illness, or death.

Unfortunately, there are employers and insurers who will attempt to deny an employee the work injury benefits that he/she is owed. This is unfortunate and can make recovery much more difficult and costly for the injured worker.

Stallone injured neck making 'Expendables', UPI.com, January 6, 2010

Related Web Resources:
Illinois Workers' Compensation Act

Screen Actors Guild

American Federation of Radio and Television Artists

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