Workers' Compensation

Workers’ Compensation Attorneys in Schaumburg, IL

Were you injured on the job in Schaumburg? The workers’ compensation attorneys and personal injury lawyers at Gardi, Haught, Fischer & Bhosale LTD are leaders in the industry, and we can help you recover from your losses. In addition to benefits designed to replace a portion of your wages, you may be entitled to compensation for medical bills, disability payments, and vocational rehabilitation.

Our experienced workman’s compensation attorneys have been helping injured employees in Schaumburg and the surrounding areas. Our personal injury attorneys offer free consultations, are available 24/7, and can even come to you if you can’t get to our Schaumburg offices.

If you were injured or your loved one was killed on the job in Schaumburg, you deserve to receive fair treatment. Our personal injury attorneys are here to help ensure that happens during this difficult time.

Call us today at (847) 944-9400 and speak to one of our worker’s compensation attorneys for a free, no-obligation case evaluation.

What Is Workers’ Compensation in Illinois?

In Illinois all employers are required to carry workers’ compensation insurance that will pro-actively pay you for your time missed from work, medical expenses, and ultimately an award based on the permanency of your condition. There are limits to the amount of compensation, but the trade-off is that you don’t need to sue your employer and prove negligence.

Our Workers’ Compensation Attorneys and Team of Personal Injury Lawyers Have Recovered Millions of Dollars on Behalf of Our Clients

Our Schaumburg worker’s compensation attorneys and our team of personal injury lawyers have developed a reputation for taking on some of Illinois’s most challenging personal injury and medical malpractice cases—and winning. We have recovered hundreds of millions in settlements and verdicts for our clients.

Workers’ Compensation Benefits Available for Injured Workers

Various benefits are available to Schaumburg workers who were injured on the job. Depending on the severity of your work-related injuries, these benefits may cover everything from a portion of your lost wages and medical bills to permanent disability or vocational rehabilitation. Even if your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance is paying on your claim, the company may not provide you with all the benefits you are entitled to. Some of the benefits available to injured workers in Illinois include:

Lost Earnings

If you can’t work for more than three days because of your work-related injury, you will receive a portion of your lost earnings while you recover. In Illinois, you may receive up to 66-⅔ % of your weekly wages. If your injuries allow you to work, but you must take a lower-paying job or work fewer hours, you may receive a wage differential equal to ⅔ of the difference between the average weekly wage you would have received had your accident not happened and your current earnings.

Permanent Total Disability Benefits

After you have reached maximum medical improvement (MMI), your doctor will determine if your work-related injury has left you with a permanent impairment and, if so, to what extent. If it is determined that you cannot perform any type of work or have lost the use of your hands, arms, feet, legs, eyes, or any two of the above, you will be considered permanently disabled. Permanent Total Disability Benefits (PTD) are payable for the rest of your life.

Vocational Rehabilitation Benefits

If your workplace accident has caused you to be unable to perform your pre-injury job duties, you may be entitled to receive vocational rehabilitation benefits. These benefits may include education, training, job counseling, or other assistance to help you continue to be part of the workforce. You may also be entitled to maintenance benefits while enrolled in an approved program if you receive vocational rehabilitation benefits.

Death Benefits

If you are a qualifying family member of a worker who was killed on the job in Illinois, you may be entitled to receive death benefits. These benefits may include payment of ⅔ of your deceased loved one’s average weekly wage up to a maximum of $500,000 or 25 years, whichever amount is more significant. An additional $8,000 in burial benefits is awarded to the person who incurred the cost of your loved one’s burial.

Permanent Partial Disability Benefits

If your work-related accident caused a permanent injury to some part of your body, and you are found to be unable to perform some of the activities you could perform before your accident, you may be entitled to Permanent Partial Disability (PPD) benefits. This may include scheduled loss-of-use awards, unscheduled awards, wage differential benefits, or disfigurement benefits in Illinois.

Scheduled Loss-of-Use Awards:

Illinois uses a schedule to determine the amount of benefits workers with listed injuries are entitled to receive. If you’ve lost the use of a listed body part, you may be entitled to receive an award equal to 60% of your pre-accident average weekly wages, multiplied by the number of weeks shown in the schedule.

Unscheduled Awards:

If your work-related accident caused a permanent disability not listed on the schedule, your award will be determined based on your disability rating (corresponding to a percentage of 500 weeks) multiplied by 60% of your pre-accident average weekly wages.

Wage Differential Benefits:

If you can still work, but your injury has caused you to earn less than your pre-accident earnings, you may receive up to ⅔ of the difference between your pre-injury wages and your current earnings. Wage differential benefits will continue for five years or until you reach age 67 – whichever occurs later.

Disfigurement Benefits:

You may be entitled to receive up to 60% of your pre-accident wages for up to 162 weeks if your accident resulted in a severe permanent disfigurement that is readily apparent to the public.

Medical Bills

Under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act, your employer must pay for all your reasonable and necessary medical expenses associated with your workplace injury. This includes medications, equipment, physical or mental rehabilitation, surgery, hospital care, and more. No deductible or co-insurance is required.

What to Do if You Were Injured on the Job in the Chicagoland area?

If you sustained accidental injuries that arose from and during your employment, you must take specific steps to ensure you are appropriately compensated for lost wages and medical bills. If you fail to follow these steps, you could be barred from recovering for your losses.

Report Your Injuries to Your Employer

Under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act, you have just 45 days from your accident to notify your employer that you were injured. If you fail to notify your employer within the allotted 45 days, your claim will likely be barred, and you will be unable to recover compensation for your losses. While you can inform your employer orally, our workers’ compensation lawyers recommend you provide written notice of your injuries. This ensures that you have hard evidence that notification was provided on time.

Seek Medical Assistance Right Away

You must seek medical attention immediately after a workplace injury or exposure. This applies even if you don’t initially believe that you’ve been seriously injured since the severity of some injuries may not be apparent for hours or even days after the accident. The American College of Emergency Physicians asserts that the first 60 minutes after an injury determine your recovery. Even if your employer has a network of preferred providers for workers’ compensation cases, you can immediately obtain the necessary medical treatment. If you are severely injured, call an ambulance or go to the nearest emergency room or urgent care clinic.

Inform Your Medical Team About the Circumstances of Your Injury

It is essential to inform your treating physician about the nature and circumstances of your injury. Notifying your medical team that you were injured at work ensures billing correspondence is sent through the proper channels.

Document the Injury as Accurately as Possible

It is also essential to document your workplace injury as thoroughly as possible. Your co-workers, supervisors, and any other witnesses may be able to assist you by taking photos or videos of the scene and any equipment or vehicles that were involved in your accident. Gathering this evidence can help your workers’ compensation lawyer ensure your case is successful.

Ensure Your Employer Submits the Injury Report

If you were injured in Illinois, your employer must submit an injury report to the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission. The report should contain detailed information about your accident and include your personal information, such as when and where the accident happened, how you were injured, and what injuries you sustained.

Contact a Workers’ Compensation Attorney

Seeking help from a workers’ compensation or personal injury lawyer in Schaumburg is the best way to ensure your rights are protected and fully compensated for your injuries. Our work injury attorneys offer free consultations to discuss your case, answer any questions you might have, and provide legal advice about how to proceed after your accident.

Be Discreet

Insurance companies will do anything to avoid paying a work injury claim. They may have investigators review your social media posts, visit your home, or even follow you to places you frequent.

Hurt on the job? Call (847) 944-9400 to speak with one of our Worker’s compensation attorneys today or request a free case evaluation beloe!

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Know Your Rights

It is illegal for your employer to harass, threaten, or punish you for filing a workers’ compensation claim. If your employer withholds a promotion or terminates your employment because you filed a claim, your employer is breaking the law.

Work-related accidents and illnesses are common throughout the United States, especially in specific industries. To help protect injured workers, Illinois and many other states require employers to participate in the workers’ compensation insurance system. Your employer pays for workers’ comp insurance premiums. When a workplace accident happens, and a claim is successful, the insurance company pays for the victim’s medical bills and losses – not the employer.

The workers’ compensation system is designed to help compensate injured workers and their families if a workplace accident or exposure causes them to suffer losses. While the system was intended to be straightforward, it doesn’t always work that way.

Over the years, insurance companies have looked for loopholes in the workers’ compensation system that allow them to minimize payouts, coerce workers into accepting settlements significantly less than their losses, delay claims, or even deny work injury claims completely. Our workers’ compensation attorneys are here to close those gaps.

Filing a Third-Party Lawsuit After a Work Injury

If a third party contributed to your work-related accident, you may be able to file a third-party personal injury lawsuit to recover additional compensation for your losses. Your settlement could be substantial since personal injury lawsuits enable injured victims to collect benefits unavailable within the workers’ compensation system.

Examples of third-party liability in work-related injury claims include:

Motor Vehicle Accidents:

If you were injured in a motor vehicle accident while performing your work duties and another driver was negligent, you may have a third-party claim.

Defective Products:

If faulty equipment, machinery, or dangerous products contribute to your workplace injuries, the manufacturer can be held liable.

Toxic Substances:

If toxic substances injure you, the manufacturer or distributor may be liable for damages.

Contractors:

If another contractor working on your job site caused your injuries, you may be able to recover damages by filing a third-party lawsuit.

Industries with Special Worker Protection Laws

Some Schaumburg workers are covered under different worker protection laws. If you are a railroad worker, a Schaumburg police officer, or a firefighter, or you perform your work duties on the waterways of Illinois, you may be covered under the following programs instead of the Illinois Workers Compensation System.

What You Should Know About Work Injuries in Illinois

Although Schaumburg workers can be seriously injured or killed in almost any occupation, some industries are significantly more dangerous than others. Some of the most dangerous jobs in Schaumburg include:

• Manufacturing
• Construction Industry
• Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting
• Private Air Transportation
• Nursing and Healthcare
• Ground Transportation
• Government Transit Services
• Warehousing and storage

Common Work-Related Injuries in Schaumburg

While some workers’ comp claims include minor injuries like sprains, strains, and simple fractures, others are more serious, permanently altering the lives of victims and their families. Some of the more common workplace injuries our law firm sees include:

Repetitive Stress Injuries:

When Schaumburg workers are required to perform repetitive tasks for an extended period, they risk suffering repetitive stress injuries. Carpal tunnel syndrome, for example, is a common repetitive stress injury among office workers. Likewise, laborers who stalk shelves of heavy boxes or other items may suffer from chronic back pain.

Occupational Illnesses:

Many occupational illnesses arise from toxic chemicals, loud noises, and other hazards in Schaumburg workplaces. As a result, many workers acquire hearing loss, serious skin conditions, respiratory diseases, and even chemical poisoning. When workplace conditions worsen an employee’s preexisting condition, that person may also qualify for workers’ compensation.

Physical Injuries:

A wide range of physical injuries can occur in the workplace. While minor injuries like cuts and bruises generally heal on their own, severe injuries from falls, electrocutions, explosions and fires, equipment malfunctions, and even assaults can be deadly. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, falls are the most common cause of fatality accidents on the job.

When navigating the complexities of a workers’ compensation claim in the Chicagoland area, you need a trusted advocate by your side. Turn to Gardi, Haught, Fischer & Bhosale LTD for experienced and reliable representation.

Speak with one of our workers’ compensation attorneys to ensure your rights are protected and your case is handled with the utmost care and expertise.

Request A Free Case Evaluation