Lyft Drivers With Burn Injuries

Chicago Lawyers for Workers’ Compensation Claims

Although burn injuries in car accidents are rare, occurring in only a small percentage of traffic crashes, they do occur. Often the burn injuries that do arise in the context of a car crash are severe or deadly. Deep tissue damage can be inflicted with fire, hot metal, or steam. Recovering can involve years of expensive treatment and plastic surgery. Sometimes workers can no longer work due to burns. If you are a Lyft driver with burn injuries you have suffered on the job, it’s important to discuss your situation with an experienced Chicago workers’ compensation attorney. You may have legal options that can help you stay financially afloat while you treat your injuries, and a dedicated legal team can answer your questions regarding how to proceed with your potential claims.

Lyft Drivers with Burn Injuries

Working as a rideshare driver carries risks, including the risk of car crashes and burn injuries. As a Lyft driver, you may assume your employer correctly classified you as an independent contractor and that you are therefore not entitled to workers’ compensation benefits for your job-related burn injuries. However, the Illinois courts follow what’s called the ABC test, and under it you are presumed to be an employee unless the employer can show otherwise.

Under the ABC test, you may have been misclassified, in which case you would be entitled to recover workers’ compensation benefits for job-related burn injuries. The amount of benefits will depend on the severity of your burns. Burn injuries vary in seriousness and are categorized accordingly. Often second and third-degree burns require skin grafting. You may be left with disfiguring scars, or in some cases, nerve damage. There is also the risk of infection.

Workers’ Compensation Benefits

Workers’ compensation benefits can include medical bills, temporary total disability benefits, permanent total disability benefits, partial disability benefits and vocational rehabilitation. These benefits are not taxable. All reasonable medical care for your burn injuries should be covered. This can include emergency care and initial care, skin grafts, care for nerve damage, and revision surgeries. Sometimes lifelong care is needed for severe scarring caused by burns.

Under section 8(c) of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act, if you experience serious or permanent disfigurement on certain areas of your body as a result of burn injuries, you’re entitled to compensation for disfigurement. Although you may be entitled to disability pay, you should be aware that you may not also be able to recover benefits for disfigurement of the same body part.

In addition to the difficulties presented by being classified by Lyft as an independent contractor, it can also be difficult to obtain the full medical benefits to which you’re entitled for burn injuries from a workers’ compensation insurer. While you may obtain initial care easily, an insurer may fight you on covering the subsequent procedures for serious second and third degree burns. These burns have the potential to cause infection and harm blood vessels, and may need to be repaired with skin grafts.

Sometimes burn injuries result in a rideshare driver’s death. Workers’ compensation death benefits are available to a spouse or dependent children. These benefits include funeral and burial costs. A skilled work injury lawyer can help you pursue these kinds of benefits following the passing of a loved one.

Third Party Lawsuits

If you suffer burn injuries in a car crash caused by someone else, you may be able to bring a third party lawsuit for damages in civil court. In a third party lawsuit, you can recover not only your full economic losses, but also noneconomic losses such as pain and suffering and mental anguish. For instance, after sustaining burn injuries, you may feel not only the pain of the burns, but also the emotional effects of how people react to your scars and disfigurement, and having your opportunities limited as a result. These emotional losses may be quantified and recovered in a third party lawsuit.

Dedicated Workers’ Compensation Lawyers for Chicago Employees

You may face significant hurdles when you’re trying to obtain benefits after being hurt at work. If you are a Lyft driver with burn injuries following a work-related accident in Chicago, you should talk over your situation with the seasoned attorneys of Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca. We represent rideshare drivers in Quincy, Champaign, Aurora and Rockford, along with Winnebago, Kane, Adams, Sangamon, and Cook Counties. Contact us at 312-724-5846 or via our online form.