If you’re injured at work, it’s time to talk with an attorney about filing a workers’ compensation claim. Illinois law requires that most employers provide workers’ compensation insurance. The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (IWCC) estimates 91% of Illinois employees are covered. When you’re hurt while working, you’re probably entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. To learn more about what those benefits are and how to start receiving payments as soon as possible, contact Staver Accident Injury Lawyers, P.C. at (312) 236-2900. You also can use our online form to schedule your free initial consultation.
Illinois Workers’ Compensation Benefits
Medical Benefits
When you’re hurt at work, your employer is responsible for paying for all reasonable and necessary medical care to either cure your injury or condition or relieve you from the effects of the injury, like pain. You aren’t required to pay for co-pays or deductibles unless the service is covered by a group health plan. If you’ve been required to pay certain medical expenses related to workplace injuries, talk with a lawyer.
Medical benefits include:
- First aid and emergency care
- Doctor visits
- Hospital care
- Surgery
- Physical therapy
- Chiropractic treatment
- Medication
- Prosthetic devices
- Prescribed medical appliances
- Medically necessary devices
- Necessary physical modifications to your home
Temporary Total Disability (TTD) Benefits
You can receive compensation if your doctor says you’re temporarily unable to work, or your doctor releases you for light-duty work, but your employer can’t accommodate you. You can receive payment for TTD until you go back to work or reach maximum medical improvement (MMI). You aren’t paid TTD for the first three workdays you miss unless you miss 14 or more calendar days because of the injury or condition. Your employer should pay TTD at the same time it used to pay your wages.
TTD = 66 2/3% of your average weekly wage (AWW).
Your AWW is calculated based on your pre-tax wages for the 52 weeks before the date you were injured. This calculation is subject to maximum and minimum limits, which the Illinois Department of Employment Security updates every six months.
Temporary Partial Disability (TPD) Benefits
You can receive TPD when you’re healing from a workplace injury and can handle light duty at work, either part time or full time. To get these benefits, you have to be earning less than you did before you were hurt. Your employer will pay TPD until you can return to full duties at work or you hit MMI.
TPD = 66 2/3% of the difference between the average you would be able to earn pre-injury and the gross amount you earn on light duty.
Calculate your pre-injury job’s AWW. Then, calculate your post-injury gross pay. Subtract this second amount from the first, and that is the wage differential. TPD is two-thirds of that differential, and maximum and minimums apply.
Vocational Rehabilitation Benefits
You might not be able to go back to your pre-injury job. In this situation, you might need to go through an educational program, vocational retraining, and a job search. You have to obtain new knowledge and skills to be employable. Your employer is responsible for paying for these efforts, including incidental expenses and maintenance. The maintenance payments can’t be less than your TTD rate.
Permanent Partial Disability (PPD) Benefits
You have a right to PPD if you suffer:
- The complete or partial loss of a body part;
- The complete or partial loss of the use of a body part; or
- The partial loss of use of your whole body.
Loss of use means you can’t do what you generally were able to do before the workplace injury.
Whether or not you have a permanent disability isn’t decided until you reach MMI. Only once you’ve recovered to the fullest extent possible can you seek PPD.
There are four types of PPD benefits, which depend on the type of permanent disability.
- Wage Differential: If you can work, but your new job pays less than your pre-injury job, you are entitled to receive a portion of the differences between those wages. You get to receive 66 2/3% of the wage differential for up to five years or until you reach 67 years old, whichever comes later.
- Schedule of Injuries: The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act has a schedule of what certain body parts are worth. The schedule gives you a certain number of weeks of compensation for each body part multiplied by 60% of your AWW. If your loss of a body is deemed 100%, the calculation uses all of the weeks on the schedule. If your loss is 99% or less, then the number of weeks is multiplied by this percentage.
- Non-Schedule Injuries: If you suffer a limitation that isn’t listed on the schedule, then you can get a portion of 500 weeks of benefits based on the loss to your person as a whole. The portion is the percentage of loss you suffered multiplied by 500. Then multiply the number of weeks you’re entitled to by 60% of your AWW.
- Disfigurement: If you sustain a serious and permanent disfigurement to your head, face, neck, chest above the armpits, arm, hand, or leg before the knee, then you are entitled to up to 162 weeks of benefits at your PPD rate. That number of weeks is multiplied by 60% of your AWW. But whether or not you are disfigured isn’t decided until the scarring has healed for six months.
Death and Survivors’ Benefits
If your loved one died because of a workplace accident, then you can receive a burial benefit of $8,000. This is to help cover the costs of the funeral and burial or cremation.
As a surviving spouse or minor child, your family can receive 66 2/3% of your loved one’s gross AWW, subject to maximum and minimum limits. If your loved one didn’t leave behind a spouse or children, then the survivors’ benefits are paid to totally dependent parents. But if no one was entirely dependent on your loved one, then the benefits can be paid to anyone who was at least 50% dependent on them at the time of their death.
If, as a surviving spouse, you get remarried, and your children are no longer minors, then you can receive a lump sum of two years of compensation. If your children are still under 18 years old, then the survivors’ benefits continue.
Let a Chicago Attorney Help You Get Workers’ Comp Benefits
To make sure you get the benefits the law entitles you to, work with an Illinois workers’ compensation attorney at Staver Accident Injury Lawyers, P.C. We’re here to help you navigate the claim process and get you the most from your workers’ comp insurance. To schedule a free consultation, you can reach us through our online form or call (312) 236-2900.
