Settlements

In Illinois, Workers’ Compensation does not address pain and suffering.

The three areas that Work Comp covers is time off work, medical treatment and permanent partial disability.

Permanent partial disability reflects the nature and extent of your injury.

There is no schedule of value in Illinois for specific injuries.

A rough rule of thumb is that non-surgical injuries are worth less than surgeries.

Permanent restrictions are worth more than full duty releases.

If you cannot return to your old job due to your work injuries the value increases.

Everything is based on your average weekly wage the year before you were injured.

So a fast food worker will receive less than a union worker for the same injury.

In Illinois Workers’ Compensation cases cases are determined on a percentage basis of a man as a whole.

The back has a total of 500 weeks.

An example is a herniated disc without surgery. These cases usually range from 8 to 10 percent. 10 percent results in 50 weeks of compensation.

A back surgery may range in value from 20 to 30 percent of the man. Depending on the type of surgery.

A back strain ranges in value from 2 percent to 4 percent.

Your average weekly wage for the year before your injury is multiplied times 60 percent times the number of weeks to come up with the value of your injury.

If there are permanent restrictions throw all the values out the window, and see a lawyer immediately.

They think the injured worker does not understand the process and has little leverage.

You will not be able to get them to come up unless you ask to see the Arbitrator to find out the value of your injury.

Another factor is if you tell the adjuster you want future medical.

Many times the insurance company sees the injured worker as having few alternatives if they do not have a lawyer.

You can get a lawyer after the initial offer.

This will often result in an increased offer because the adjuster wants to close out the claim without increasing the company’s costs.

This protects your original offer (there is no attorney fee on the original offer), and gets you some more money.

The attorney fee only applies to the increased amount of the offer.