What if you are injured on the job.
Are you stuck in your job?
The answer is usually, fortunately not.
The reason is that in Illinois the law requires employers to carry Workers’ Compensation insurance.
The insurance company must cover your medical bills, pay you while you are off work, and pay you for the value of the injury.
It does not matter if you continue to work at the same place, quit, retire or change jobs. It does not even matter if your employer goes out of business.
The insurance company stands in the place of your employer and follows you wherever you go.
However, it does make a difference when you have limitations as a result of your work injury.
For instance, if you may not be able to return to your former work then you cannot just retire or quit your job.
The reason is that you have to give your employer a chance to see if they can accommodate your restrictions.
If you retire, then you will not be able to make the argument that a lifting restriction will keep you from your former job and make it so that you can only perform sit down work or no work at all.
Questions about your work injury? Feel free to contact Illinois Workers’ Compensation Attorney Dirk May with Williams and Swee at 309-827-4371.