You felt something give out in your lower back while lifting a pallet, but you finished your shift and went home, assuming it would loosen up over the weekend. Three months later you are in an orthopedic surgeon's office being told you need surgery, and the first...
A roofer in Naperville spends a July afternoon on a black shingle roof where the surface temperature runs far above the air temperature. A warehouse selector in Bolingbrook works a ten-hour shift in a building with no air conditioning. A road crew member on I-88...
Most Cases End in a Settlement, Not a Trial If you have been hurt on the job and are starting to recover, there is a good chance the insurance company will eventually offer you money to close your case. Maybe a number has already been floated. The first questions most...
If you have an open workers’ compensation claim and you have noticed an unfamiliar car parked down the street, or you have wondered whether the insurance company is watching your social media, you are not being paranoid. Surveillance is a common tool that...
Not every work injury happens in an instant. A warehouse worker who develops severe lung problems after years of breathing in dust, a nurse who contracts an infectious disease on the job, or a factory employee who loses hearing after a decade next to loud machinery...
If your workers' compensation case is heading to a hearing, you are probably feeling some anxiety about what that actually means. Many injured workers picture a dramatic courtroom showdown like the ones on television. The reality is far less theatrical, but it is...
When your Illinois workers' compensation case is finally ready to settle, you may be picturing a single lump sum that closes the book on your injury. For many injured workers, that is exactly how it works. But if you are already enrolled in Medicare, or you are likely...
You settled your workers’ compensation case, or an arbitrator issued an award, and you tried to move on. Months later, the pain returns, the surgery you hoped you would never need is now on the table, and the disability you were compensated for has clearly...
If your work injury has left you with permanent restrictions and your doctor has told you that you cannot return to the job you held before you were hurt, you are likely facing a frightening question: how will you support yourself and your family now? Illinois law...
Two Claims, Two Different Recoveries Workers’ compensation is a no-fault system. You do not need to prove that anyone did anything wrong; you only need to show that you were injured at work and that the injury arose out of and in the course of your employment....