Employers and their worker’s compensation insurance companies try to not pay injured workers when they’re out of work because they got hurt at work. So the first thing you need to know is that if you get hurt at work and if you’re off work, you’re supposed to get two thirds of your salary, but they don’t take out taxes.

So even though you’re only getting paid two thirds of what you normally get paid, the fact that they’re not taking out payroll taxes means it’s pretty comparable.  So you should be getting pretty close to what you would be getting normally if you were working.

The second thing you need to know about getting paid Workers Comp if you’re off of work due to a work injury is that you’re only going to get paid that money, called TTD, (Temporary Total Disability) if you have a doctor’s note.

No doctor’s note, no pay. That’s because according to Workers Comp, the company is entitled to a medical opinion explaining that you were hurt and that you’re off work because you got hurt on the job.  You need a doctor’s note in order to prove that you’re off work because of the work injury and that you’re actually physically not able to do the job.

The third thing you need to understand is that there’s a difference between work/off work notes when it comes to Workers Compensation claims.

There are full duty work restrictions and partial duty work restrictions. A full duty work restriction means your doctor things that you can’t work at all. That you need to be completely off work. And that usually happens with serious injuries or neck or back injuries. Because if you’ve got those sorts of injuries, there’s not much you can do without pain.

The other kind of restriction is the partial duty restriction. That usually happens where somebody’s hand is hurt but they can still walk and see and do other things that don’t involve using that hand. But it also involves things like back injuries or leg injuries where you’re able to sit and do work. That’s a partial restriction.

If you have a full duty restriction, that means you can’t work at all. But if you have a partial restriction, that means you might be able to do something for the company. And if the company accommodates your restriction, then you have to go to work and try to do it. If you have a partial restriction and they ask you to come to work, they have to keep the work they ask you to do within your physical limitations contained in that restriction.

In other words, they’re not allowed to ask you to do work that your doctor is telling you that you shouldn’t do. If your employer doesn’t offer you work within your restriction, then you’re entitled to get paid while you’re off work. Or, if they make you come into work and ask you to do things outside of your restriction, you should go back to the doctor, report that, and the doctor is likely to keep you completely off work.

Your employer is not allowed to ask you to do things that are beyond your restriction in the note that the doctor gave you. Now just because they’re supposed to pay you while you’re off work doesn’t mean that they actually will. Lots of people get cheated out of their off work pay. But if that happens to you, you can go to the Worker’s Compensation Commission and force them to pay you the money that you’re owed.

What happens is you file what’s called a 19B Petition, and you get in front of the arbitrator or judge at the Illinois Worker’s Compensation Commission. They hear evidence and decide whether the company owes you the money or not. They’ll also rule that the company has to continue paying you until your doctor gives you a full duty work release to return to work.

Unfortunately, filing a 19B Petition and getting in front of a judge or arbitrator to rule on your lost wages usually takes 30 to 60 days. So it can be a bit of a wait.

Now you know the basics of how to get paid if you’re off work due to a work injury. I really hope this information helps you. If you have any questions about your situation, please feel free to give me a call for a no cost Case Strategy Session, where I will analyze your situation and answer all of your questions.  Give me a call at 312-500-4500.

That’s the law, but we all know things don’t always work according to the law, if people think they can get away with doing more, or less as the case may be. Sometimes, employers do try to harass or fire injured people after an on-the-job injury.

So what can they get away with and what isn’t allowed?

Let’s talk about harassment first.

The first thing to consider is what sort of harassment are we talking about? Are they just not being nice to you, or giving you the silent treatment or the cold shoulder? If that’s the case, that’s actually pretty normal. Things usually return to the way they used to be within a couple of weeks of you returning to work after an on-the-job injury. It’s common especially at a smaller company for the employer or the supervisors to be a little bit mad at you for filing a workers’ comp case. Usually, things settle down.

But if by harassment, you mean being physically or verbally assaulted or abused, that’s another matter altogether. That sort of harassment may actually violate the law. If you’re a union employee, or there’s a contract in place, or they discriminate you by sending you home, not giving you hours to work, or not offering you access to overtime hours, those actions are harassment where you may be able to sue the company to stop them from doing it.

Most companies know that it’s against the law to harass or discriminate based on someone filing a Workers Comp case, so they don’t do it.

As a result, it’s pretty rare. If your company’s cutting your hours, or not offering you overtime, or laying you off, and you can prove it, you should talk to somebody about filing a lawsuit, because that behavior is definitely harassment that violates the law.

So let’s talk about being fired in retaliation for filing a Workers’ Comp case or being hurt at work.

Firing an employee who got hurt at work and filed a Workers’ Comp case is definitely in violation of federal law. Simply put, it’s against the law to fire an employee just because they got hurt at work and decided to protect their rights in a way that the Illinois Workers’ Comp Act allows them to do. You can’t do that.

It is perfectly legal for you to file a Workers’ Comp claim, and you can’t be penalized for doing it.

But even though the principle of retaliatory discharge is open and shut and easy to understand, there are plenty of wrinkles in retaliatory discharge cases, that say “this is” or “this is not” retaliatory discharge. It’s actually a pretty complicated area of the law.

For example, your case at the commission, at the Workers’ Compensation Commission, actually has to be filed before they fire you, otherwise you can’t have a retaliatory discharge claim.  And even if they create some false pretext for firing you, that’s not going to immunize them from a big judgment against the employer. Courts and judges see right through that. If they’re really firing you for filing a Workers’ Comp claim, but make something up and we can prove it, you might be in line for a large judgment against them for retaliatory discharge. An employer is not allowed to make up an excuse like that.

Since employers know they are on the line for a big judgment if they do that, these days they often don’t do that. They’re very careful about documenting why somebody’s being let go, and these days, they rarely fire somebody for filing a workers’ comp case, but if they do and if you can prove it, if there’s evidence of it, we can really hold your employer accountable.

No matter what, an employer is not supposed to fire an injured employee just because they got hurt on the job.

If there’s anything I can do or if you have a question, message me or call my office. I’m happy to talk to you for free and see if there’s anything I can do to help you. You can reach me at 312-500-4500.