Illinois Lawyer Referrals and Legal Guidance

Workers’ compensation benefits in Illinois are available to employees who suffer an accident or injury on and because of their job.  This system allows employees to collect money to pay for their  medical expenses, in a simpler and more streamlined process, than non-work injuries.  When an employee is seeking to collect workers’ compensation benefits and has a pre-existing medical condition, the work nexus can be more difficult to prove.  But the pre-existing condition should not prevent workers’ compensation recovery. 

For any employee to be entitled to Illinois workers’ compensation benefits, there must be proof that the accident, injury, or illness arose out of the employment.  This causal connection between the medical condition and the employment condition is a critical element in any case.  The symptoms the employee is experiencing have to come from some event that occurred, or element of the regular performance of the job duties that wore down or injured part of the body. 

Where there is a pre-existing condition, it is like having an extra step to prove.  The employee needs to show that the work-related accident or injury made the condition worse.  There has to be a distinction made between the medical condition’s ordinary course of deterioration, and the worsening that actually occurred because of the employment. 

While the employment does not need to be the sole or even the primary cause of the employee’s medical problem, it has to have affected the condition in a way that would not have happened without the employment issue. 

One of the most common types of pre-existing condition issues involves back injuries.  If you injure your back while performing lifting duties for your job, clearly it would seem that this injury arose from your work.  But if you already had a bad back from prior back strains on your last job five years ago, will workers’ compensation cover you on this job?  It should, if you can show that your back pain was not just the ordinary course of deterioration of a bad back.  Rather you should show that you job performance was the cause of this new phase of your back problems. 

Illinois workers’ compensation benefits are designed to protect all types of employees—old and young, weak and strong, diseased and healthy.  So if an employee has a pre-existing condition that is aggravated or accelerated by a work injury, then workers’ compensation benefits should be available.

Let’s say your employer is based in State A, you were hired in State B, and you suffered a work injury in State C. You’re probably confused about where to file a workers’ compensation claim.

Our advice: file in Illinois if you can.

Illinois has worker-friendly laws when it comes to workers’ compensation. And you can generally file your claim here even if you haven’t been to Illinois in years. If your only connection to Illinois is that you were hired here when you first joined the company, even if it was 15 years ago, you can file your workers’ compensation claim here.

If you weren’t aware of this rule, and you filed a claim in another state, it may not be too late. If Illinois law entitles you to more benefits than you got in the other state, you can file here as well. Even if you closed your case in that other state, and even if you signed something saying that you couldn’t seek additional benefits, you can still file here. Only the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission can close out your Illinois work injury claim.

Since 2001, findgreatlawyers.com has been the leading resource for Illinois attorney referrals and legal guidance. If you would like our help please contact one of our lawyers via our on-line form or call (800) 517-1614. We are based in Chicago, but help people find attorneys for legal matters throughout Illinois.  All inquiries are free and confidential.

Here’s an overview of what you can expect to receive in terms of benefits if you’re hurt on the job in Illinois. All work injuries are usually covered, and workers’ compensation is your only option – you generally cannot sue your employer for a work injury.

Medical bills

In Illinois, workers injured on the job are entitled to 100% of their medical expenses. This includes immediate treatment and ongoing medical care, as well as prescriptions, physical therapy and surgery in many cases. The basic rule is that the treatment has to be necessary and related to your injury in order to be covered.

Lost wages

If you are unable to work because of your injury, or if your doctor restricts your activities and your employer can’t accommodate you, you’ll get paid for part of your lost income. This is called Temporary Total Disability, or TTD. You will receive 2/3 of your average weekly wage over the last 52 weeks. There is no time limit on how long you can receive TTD payments. They end when you can go back to work, or when your employer can accommodate any restrictions.

Permanent disability

Permanent Partial Disability, or PPD, is for permanent injuries. The amount depends on the type of injury you have and how it affects your life now and in the future. If you can’t work, or can only work at a job that pays less, you may be compensated for part of the difference. The PPD amount is negotiated by lawyers and can be different in every case.

Employer penalties

If an employer wrongfully denies you benefits, they may have to pay you a penalty. Other than this, there are no punitive damages or “pain and suffering” damages in workers’ compensation cases in Illinois.

Suing a third party for your injury

Although you can’t sue your employer for a work injury, you may be able to sue a third party who was at fault. For example, if you’re installing cable for a customer in a high-rise building, and the elevator malfunctions and you get hurt, you could file a personal injury lawsuit against the building owner. You could still pursue workers’ compensation as well.

Since 2001, findgreatlawyers.com has been the leading resource for Illinois attorney referrals and legal guidance. If you would like our help please contact one of our lawyers via our on-line form or call (800) 517-1614. We are based in Chicago, but help people find attorneys for legal matters throughout Illinois.  All inquiries are free and confidential.