Last time I discussed how to decide if your offer was good enough. This time I want to explain how an arbitrator (Judge) determines benefits for your injury.
In Illinois, benefits are based on your wage. This means if you work at a minimum wage job and the person across the street who makes $50,000 a year has the same injury as you, you will receive a much smaller settlement.
The arbitrator takes your average weekly wage (based on the 52 weeks before your injury date) times 60 percent times a certain number of weeks. For example, in Illinois a hand is worth 205 weeks. If the arbitrator decides the injury is worth 10 percent of the hand, you will receive 20.5 weeks.
In Illinois Workers’ Compensation law, there is no schedule describing a certain number of weeks for each type of injury. The arbitrator decides based on a trend of cases over time involving similar treatments and restrictions.