Lost Wages for Injured City of Chicago Workers

Chicago Lawyers for Employees Hurt On the Job

The City of Chicago employs many workers who carry out and administer the services provided to residents and visitors of the City. These workers include firemen, policemen, construction workers, librarians, and maintenance employees. Many workers have collective bargaining agreements in place, and these may provide healthcare and other benefits. The City of Chicago is covered by the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act and should pay you benefits if you are injured on the job. If you have questions about lost wages for injured City of Chicago workers, a skillful Chicago workers’ compensation attorney can help you understand the benefits process.

Lost Wages for Injured City of Chicago Workers

The City of Chicago is self-insured. This means the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission has approved them to pay claims directly rather than pay premiums to an outside insurer to make sure the insurer provides benefits to injured workers. The City of Chicago, like other employers, may make spurious arguments when handling your claim. They may argue you were injured while violating City policy, while committing a significant crime, or that you inflicted injuries on yourself.

Wage Replacement and Disability Benefits

A serious work injury may make it difficult or downright impossible to do your job with the City. The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act provides for different forms of replacement wages. Usually, if you’re injured and need time off to recover, you can get temporary total disability benefits.

Temporary total disability benefits are calculated as 2/3 of your average weekly wage up to a certain cap that is updated in six-month increments. The temporary total disability benefits are intended to replace a portion of your wages lost because of a work-related injury that is not necessarily permanent. For example, if you are a fireman who suffers some harm from smoke inhalation in a fire you help to put out, you may be able to get temporary total disability benefits for the days you are prevented from working. You won’t be able to recover lost wages for the first three work days unless you take at least 14 days off work. At that point, you can retroactively get a portion of your lost wages for those first three days.

You can get temporary partial disability benefits if you can do light duty or work part-time in spite of your work injury. These are calculated as 2/3 of the difference between what you could make before getting injured and what you make after the injury. For example, if you’re a police officer who slipped and fell on a wet floor in the bathroom and you fracture both legs such that you can no longer do your normal duties, but can do desk duty, you can get temporary partial disability benefits.

If you reached maximum medical improvement and a doctor finds you have a permanent disability, you can continue to get weekly payments at the same rate as with temporary total disability benefits. For example, if you are a city maintenance worker who got hit by a drunk driver while maintaining the roads and you lost the use of both your legs, you may be eligible for permanent total disability.

Sometimes a worker’s injuries are not completely disabling, but the disabilities are permanent. There are different types of benefits for permanent partial disability. These include wage differential benefits, scheduled losses, unscheduled losses, and disfigurement benefits. The wage differential award is paid if you suffer a loss of earnings because of a permanent impairment. Suppose, for example, the fractures you suffered that put you on desk duty as a police officer resulted in permanent loss of use of your legs and you had to remain on desk duty for the rest of your career. If your wage on desk duty is less than the wage you made as a patrol cop, you can get 2/3 of the difference between the average weekly wage prior to the injury and what you make after the injury. The wage differential award is only paid for the later of age 67 or for five years.

Consult a Seasoned Workers’ Compensation Attorney in Chicago

If you’re worried about lost wages as an injured City of Chicago worker, it is advisable to consult an aggressive lawyer. The City may not provide you with what you need, and it can be important to have a tenacious advocate at your side. The committed workers’ compensation attorneys of Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca may be able to represent you if you’re an injured worker living in Rockford, Aurora, Quincy, and Champaign, as well as Sangamon, Winnebago, Kane, Cook, and Adams Counties. Contact us at 312-724-5846 or complete our online contact form.