Schaumburg Workers’ Compensation Lawyers

Voted the best place to live in Illinois by Money Magazine, Schaumburg is a bustling community of over 78,000 and home to major employers like Zurich North America, Motorola, and the Woodfield Mall. But no matter where you work in the Schaumburg area, one accident on the job is all it takes to put your future at risk.

If you find yourself buried under a mountain of claim forms or struggling to pay your bills because you your benefits have stopped, reach out to the Schaumburg workers’ compensation attorneys at GWC Injury Lawyers, who have been getting results on some of the toughest Schaumburg workers’ compensation cases for more than 40 years. Our veteran injury attorneys invite you to take advantage of their decades of experience.

To arrange a free, no-obligation consultation with one of the firm’s Schaumburg workers’ compensation lawyers, please call us at (312) 999-9999 or click here to chat with a representative at any time.

When Do You Need to Report Your Work Injury?

The Schaumburg workers’ compensation claims process can’t begin until you report your work injury or illness to your employer. You may give notice either verbally or in writing, and you have the option of filing a formal claim with the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (IWCC) too.

You should know that you have a narrow window in which to take action. The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act requires you to notify your boss, foreman, or someone serving in a supervisory capacity about a work injury or illness within 45 days of its occurrence. Failure to do so could create an opening for your employer or its insurance provider to dispute or deny your Schaumburg workers’ compensation claim, which may bar you from ever receiving your benefits.

Please note that there may be some exceptions to this 45-day time limit, usually when your work injury is not one that would be immediately obvious, like a fractured limb, but rather a condition that develops gradually through repetitive trauma, like carpal tunnel syndrome, or exposure to dangerous substances, like mesothelioma. In these situations, the date of injury would be the point at which you should have realized that your employment had caused you harm, and you would then have 45 days from that date in which to report it.

But as any worthy Schaumburg workers’ compensation attorney will tell you, do not take 45 days to report your injury just because you have 45 days to report it. Act swiftly because excessive delays can make it easier to contest or dismiss your Schaumburg workers’ compensation claim.

When Do You Need to File a Schaumburg Workers’ Compensation Claim with the IWCC?

While Schaumburg workers’ compensation claimants do not need to file with the IWCC to qualify for benefits, many choose to do so to enjoy the protections offered by a formal workers’ compensation claim. The IWCC accepts applications up to three years after the date of a work injury or illness. But once again, a capable Schaumburg workers’ compensation lawyer would advise you not to put off until tomorrow what you can do for your claim today.

When Do You Need to Hire a Schaumburg Workers’ Compensation Attorney?

While you are allowed to represent yourself in a Schaumburg workers’ compensation claim, retaining the services of a knowledgeable lawyer can be very beneficial to your case, particularly when you have not suffered a work injury before. If you do not understand your legal rights and responsibilities as an injured employee, much less the rights and responsibilities of your employer and its workers’ compensation insurance company, your chances of receiving your full Schaumburg workers’ compensation benefits may be slim.

To avoid rookie mistakes that could doom your claim before it has even begun, retain GWC’s accomplished Schaumburg workers’ compensation attorneys as soon as you can, ideally right after your work injury.

What Schaumburg Workers’ Compensation Benefits Can You Receive?

After you have notified your employer about your work injury and your Schaumburg workers’ compensation lawyer has established your claim, there are a variety of benefits you may be able to access. The most common benefits utilized by Schaumburg workers’ compensation claimants include:

• Medical Benefits – Medical treatment for your work injury or illness that has been deemed reasonable and necessary should be covered.
• TTD (Temporary Total Disability) Benefits – If your doctor orders you off of work while you recuperate, you can receive payments equal to two-thirds of your average weekly wage throughout your absence.
• PPD (Permanent Partial Disability) Benefits – If you experience permanent impairment because of your work accident, a PPD settlement could be available either as a lump sum or paid out in structured installments, with the value of that settlement calculated based on the part of the body impaired and the extent of its impairment.

These are the core benefits for Schaumburg workers’ compensation claims, but they are not necessarily the only ones that you could receive. Depending on your circumstances, you may qualify for group health insurance, unemployment compensation, or Social Security and disability benefits, as well as Vocational Training If your post-injury physical limitations force you to change careers. Additionally, the surviving spouse and/or dependents of a worker killed on the job could petition for benefits detailed in the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act.

To get educated about the benefits you might be able to obtain and what you need to do to obtain them, sit down with one of our seasoned Schaumburg workers’ compensation lawyers at your earliest convenience.

What Will Your Schaumburg Workers’ Compensation Benefits Cost?

You should never have to pay a dime for your Schaumburg workers’ compensation benefits. Under Illinois law, the cost of approved benefits should be covered entirely by your employer or its workers’ compensation insurance carrier – but that does not mean they will be eager to pay.

If your benefits are being withheld by a non-compliant employer or insurance company, the Schaumburg workers’ compensation attorneys at GWC will do whatever it takes to overcome their opposition.

Do You Have to Prove Fault for Your Schaumburg Workers’ Compensation Claim?

The State of Illinois has a no-fault system of workers’ compensation. This means that you do not have to prove that your employer, coworker, or anybody else was at fault for your injury to establish a valid Schaumburg workers’ compensation claim.

I n fact, you should be able to establish that claim even if YOU were at fault for your work injury. As long as you were injured in the course and scope of your employment, a mistake you made should not keep you from accessing your Schaumburg workers’ compensation benefits.

What If Somebody Else Is at Fault for your Work Injury?

The no-fault aspect of the Illinois workers’ compensation system goes in both directions. Just as it would allow you to recover benefits when you are responsible for your injuries, it shields your employer from liability when it is responsible. Even if your employer or fellow employees cause your work injury, you will not be able to file suit against those parties in most instances.

But if your work injury is caused by an individual or entity who is not employed by your employer, you may be able to obtain more compensation through a third party case.

For example, if you get hurt in an auto accident with an outside party while you are on the clock, you could initiate a third party case against the driver who caused the accident, the owner of the driver’s vehicle (if separate from the driver), and their insurance carriers, among others. Potential third party defendants for work-related injuries could also include (but are not limited to):

• Property owners, developers, contractors, and subcontractors on construction projects
• Manufacturers, distributors, and retailers of unsafe products
• Government bodies

Unlike your Schaumburg workers’ compensation claim, a third party case would not be capped by attributes of your employment like average weekly wage, which may allow you to be compensated for all of your losses, provided that the defendants have sufficient assets and/or insurance coverage.

Furthermore, you can pursue your third party case at the same time as your workers’ compensation claim – you do not have to choose between one or the other. This could provide you with a minimum of two means of economic recovery for the same incident, though the insurance company handling your Schaumburg workers’ compensation claim will likely insert a lien of subrogation on your third party case to be remunerated for its expenditures on your file.

And unlike your Schaumburg workers’ compensation claim, you will need to prove fault for your third party case, typically by demonstrating negligence, which is the failure to take care to avoid inflicting harm.

In response, the third party defendants may try to argue that you were at fault for the incident in question, and the degree to which blame can be assigned to you will impact whether your third party case can succeed. If you are no more than 50 percent at fault, your case may remain viable, though the amount awarded may be decreased by your percentage of fault. If you are more than 50 percent at fault, your third party case will probably fail, but you might continue to receive your Schaumburg workers’ compensation benefits.

GWC’s Schaumburg workers’ compensation lawyers will evaluate the causes of your work accident and decide if you have grounds for a third party case on top of your Schaumburg workers’ compensation claim.

Reasons for Denying a Schaumburg Workers’ Compensation Claim

Illinois’ no-fault workers’ compensation system clearly gives wide latitude to claimants seeking benefits, but that does not mean that your claim will automatically be accepted. There are a number of reasons for denying a Schaumburg workers’ compensation claim, especially if you were hurt while you were:

• Away from your place of work, unless your employer ordered you to be somewhere else for your job.
• Commuting to or from your job, unless you were traveling for the benefit of your employer.
• Engaging in activities that were not part of your job, such as playing games, pulling pranks, fighting, wrestling, and other kinds of horseplay.
• Working as an independent contractor rather than a traditional employee, unless your Schaumburg workers’ compensation attorney can show that you were an employee in all but name only. An arbitrator or commissioner may reverse a denial and award benefits in light of persuasive evidence of misclassification by an unscrupulous employer.