A roofer falls from a ladder and shatters his wrist. A line worker at a food processing plant catches her hand in a machine and needs surgery. Both are hurt badly enough that they cannot work, and both decide to say nothing to anyone, because they are not authorized...
A journeyman electrician earns $48 an hour. After a shoulder injury and two surgeries, his doctor releases him with a permanent twenty-pound lifting restriction and no overhead work. The union hall has nothing that fits those limits. He eventually takes a job behind a...
The first workers' compensation check usually arrives with no explanation attached. There is an amount, a date range, and nothing that tells you how the insurance company reached that figure. For many injured workers the number looks too small, and that suspicion is...
You did everything right. You were hurt on the job, you reported it, and you assumed the workers' compensation system would cover your medical care and a portion of your lost wages. Then you learned something that made your stomach drop: your employer never carried...
A serious burn, a deep laceration that leaves a visible scar, a hand that healed into a permanent deformity — these injuries do more than cause pain. They change how you look, and they can stay with you long after the wound itself has closed. If you were hurt on...
When a worker is killed on the job, the family faces an immediate practical problem alongside the grief: the paycheck that supported the household is gone. Illinois law addresses part of that problem through death benefits under Section 7 of the Illinois Workers'...
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...