Have You Been Hurt at Work?

Sometimes, people want to try to handle their case themselves. Sometimes, this works out okay. 

But usually, the injured worker ends up with far less money and benefits than they would've gotten if they consulted with experienced workers comp lawyers.

On-the-job injuries are governed under Illinois Worker's Compensation law. That is a special law that only applies to on-the-job injuries for employees. It doesn't apply to car accidents or any other kind of injuries. Just injuries at work. Just where somebody gets hurt at work.

As a result, cases involving work injuries are completely different than every other kind of case. That also means that the laws and procedures of Workers Compensation cases are completely different than those you would find in, say, a car crash or nursing home abuse case.

That's why it's important to talk to a lawyer who understands the law and the procedural rules which apply to work injury cases.

The other thing to consider here is that as soon as you have an injury on the job, your employer calls their Workers Comp insurance company. The insurance company has lawyers on staff who start defending your case right away.

Insurance companies make money by collecting insurance premiums and then denying claims or limiting what is paid. That means that even if your company is being nice about it, an insurance company is pulling the strings behind the scenes.

Once an insurance company is involved in an injury case, all bets are off. They will do or say anything to reduce what they ultimately have to pay for you.

If your company has a lawyer on their side was being paid for by an insurance company, shouldn't you have a lawyer on your side? Shouldn't you at least talk to a lawyer to know what your rights are?

Fortunately most Chicago Workers Comp lawyers offer a free consultation.  My office is no exception. If you need to talk to a lawyer, you can click the button below and I would be happy to talk to you, 100% for free.

Illinois Worker's Compensation law says that if an employee gets hurt while doing their job, they are entitled to three basic benefits. Here they are:

• Being paid while off work with a doctor's note.
• All related doctor bills paid.
• A lump sum at the end of the case when the injured employee gets better.

There are more things that Worker's Comp. is supposed to pay under particular circumstances. But these are the basic ones that virtually all injured workers are entitled to.

But just because you're entitled to benefits doesn't mean that people automatically get paid under Workers Comp. To make matters worse, sometimes an injured worker will get paid at the beginning and once the insurance company has maneuvered the employee into a bad position, they cut off benefits.

That's why I always tell people it is a really good idea to hire a workers comp lawyer right at the beginning of your case.

This will prevent you from being put in a bad spot. I literally talk to dozens of people every year who waited to get a free consultation, and the company outfoxed them and damaged their case. The injured worker thought he or she was just going along and doing the right thing.  And all the while the workers comp insurance was working to defeat their claim.

Sometimes, it could be too late. It is much easier to manage a case and make sure it stays strong right from the beginning of the case that it is to try to fix a case that is messed up because the insurance company has been sabotaging it.

Here's just a partial list of what a workers comp lawyer will do for you. These are burdens you should not have to worry about while you are trying to heal from an injury. Frankly, you don't need the stress and hassle.

Here's what a lawyer can do for you:

• Handle phone calls from the insurance company
• Make sure your doctor is treating you good
• Get you paid while off work
• Make sure you see specialists if you need them
• Filling out all the papers
• Going to the workers comp commission
• Going before the judge if the Company is breaking the rules
• Making sure you get paid the right amount while off work from an on-the-job injury
• Getting you a maximum settlement at the end of your case
• Make sure your time off work or your medical treatment doesn't get cut off by the insurance company
• Stop your Company from calling you every day to hassle you
• Get you get job training and placement in a new position if you can't return to your old job.
• Go to trial to win your case

Obviously this is just a partial list. A good Chicago workers comp lawyer can do much more for you than this. It just depends on the particular challenges and issues which exist in your case.

That's why I tell people to talk to a good workers comp lawyer a good workers comp attorney if they got hurt at work.

Here's the good news: a consultation with a Chicago workers comp lawyer is 100% free and no obligation. That means your questions get answered and all of your concerns are addressed. The consultation and the phone call is free. You can meet in person or over the telephone, or even over Zoom if you're into computers.

If you decide to hire the Workers Comp attorney, then you still pay no money out of pocket. The lawyer only gets paid if he or she wins your case.

That means that the lawyer only gets paid out of what he or she wins for you. And the attorneys fee in a Workers Comp is lower than the fee in a car crash case or other kind of injury case.

The attorneys fee in a Chicago Workers Comp case is only 20%. You should be aware that there are some circumstances where the fee will go above 20%, but in over 95% of cases, the fee is set by law at 20%. That means unless there is a uncommon situation in your case, the lawyer fee is capped at 20% under the Illinois Worker's Compensation Act.

You pay the lawyer absolutely nothing until and unless he wins your case. And then, he only gets paid out of what he wins for you.

That's actually a good situation because otherwise, how could an injured worker pay a lawyer? When they have no income and are hurt at work?

This very short answer to this question is that it usually takes about a year or a little longer to settle most workers comp cases. Sometimes more, sometimes less, and in a large or complicated case with lots of medical treatment, the case can go on for years.

How long the workers comp case take depends on how long it takes you to get better.

There are really two kinds of situations in workers comp. The first is when an injured worker mostly or completely recovers. The second situation is when someone who gets hurt on the job and might need to talk to a Chicago workers comp lawyer never recovers and has a permanent disability and cannot work or cannot return to their old job.

In the first situation, we have to wait until the injured employee reaches "MMI". MMI means Maximum Medical Improvement.

That's the point at which an injured person has returned to normal or is as healed as they can be.

When you reach MMI, that means you can return to work and return to your normal activities. I usually like my clients to return to work for at least 60 days to make sure their injury doesn't pop up again. And to make sure that they are able to do their job without pain or the need for additional medical treatment.

Once this period is over, we can order all of your medical records and settle your case.

Settling your case involves fighting with the insurance company to get every penny we can for you. This is something that can happen as quickly as in 60 days or it can be a long drawn out site. In very rare cases, (less than 5% of the cases in my office), we actually have to go to trial on a workers comp case.

Don't worry, it is unlikely that your workers comp case will have to go to trial, and if it does, we will prepare you completely for the experience.

The point is we have to wait until you are done going to the doctor and then we have to negotiate with an insurance company.

In the second situation, where you can't go to work anymore, once you reach MMI, we have to find out whether you are able to do any job at all or whether you can be re-trained to do a different job. That requires a functional capacity exam and a meeting with a vocational rehabilitation expert. These are experts who will document with great detail your physical ability to do a job as well as what other jobs you might be qualified to do.

So we have to wait for those evaluations and then make sure that you get job training if it is warranted. But if the doctors and the other experts agree that you can't work at all, we can immediately move to settle your case.

Everyone always wants to hire the best lawyer. But really, you should be looking for the best lawyer for you. And your case.

So here's what you should look for:

• A lawyer with experience in Chicago workers comp
• It's a workers comp lawyer who talks to you and explains things well.
• A lawyer with an excellent reputation and good Google reviews.
• A lawyer whose law practice focuses on injury law, and workers comp specifically.

In my opinion, the injured workers who get the best outcome and are happiest with the representation have a good relationship with their lawyer. If you speak with different Chicago Workers Comp lawyers and they are rude or aggressive or don't explain things, my advice would be to keep looking for a lawyer who does.

If you choose a lawyer who seems "normal" (like a normal nice person), who gives you information, who explains things to you, and who you have a nice relationship with, you're going to have a much better experience working with that lawyer