Law

With Ebola in the news this is an opportune time to discuss it and its relationship to the Illinois Workers’ Compensation law.

The basic idea behind Workers’ Compensation law is to protect workers who are injured on the job.

However, the protection does not extend to all on the job injuries.

Let’s look at a couple of different scenarios.

A health care worker is assisting at the hospital when a patient is brought in. She helps the doctor with examining the patient and taking the patient to his hospital room. It is determined that the patient is infected with the Ebola virus. The health care worker contracts Ebola several days later.

In this situation it is clear that the health care worker would be entitled to benefits pursuant to the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act. This is because she was exposed during the course of her regular duties and her risk is beyond that of the general population. Illinois Courts have made the risk exposure an important factor in deciding Workers’ Compensation cases.

Another example would involve a food service worker who serves a regular patron who has just returned from a trip to West Africa and has contracted Ebola. The food service worker becomes infected with Ebola from the patron. This is a much tougher case. Using the exposure to risk analysis, the food service worker’s job may not expose him to the risk of Ebola any more than anyone else who works a service job. Of course, you may be able to argue that the nature of Ebola is so contagious that anyone who has a job dealing with the public is at risk.

These situations show that just because you are injured on the job it does not necessary mean you will be able to recover Workers’ Compensation benefits.

Questions about your work injury? Feel free to contact Illinois Work Comp Attorney Dirk May with Williams and Swee at 309-827-4371.