The change in the law that will impact injured workers the most will be the use of AMA guidelines.
This change applies to injuries that happen after September 1, 2011.
The AMA guidelines are a dramatic change from what was the old law in Illinois.
The guidelines focus on strict objective limitations.
They result in much lower settlement values than Illinois is used to.
However, the new Work Comp law leaves open the possibility increasing the settlement vale because it takes into account the injured worker’s occupation, age, future earning capacity, and evidence of disability in the medical records.
No single factor controls.
The problem will be that no one will know the value of the settlement in the beginning.
This will result in the Work Comp insurance company making low settlement offers, and the need for more trials to determine how Arbitrators are going to value the new cases.
Questions about your Work Comp injury and case? Feel free to call Illinois Workmans Compensation Attorney Dirk May at 309-827-4371.