Union Worker Injuries

Chicago Law Firm for Union Worker Injuries

You’re entitled to hire a lawyer to represent you in your claim under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act, and any of your other legal interests, such as obtaining damages in a third-party personal injury lawsuit. It is wise to choose and retain your own counsel. If you were injured in a union job, you should discuss your situation with the experienced Chicago workers compensation lawyers of Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca.

Union Worker Injuries

When accidents happen on the job, workers must take immediate action to protect their rights. As a worker, you may mistakenly believe that as soon as you take the proper steps with the union, you and your family are fully protected. However, unions are quite powerful organizations. As part of protecting all workers in a union, rather than your own personal interests as a union worker, a union may try to direct you to an attorney to which it has ties. It is critical to retain a lawyer who understands not only workers’ compensation benefits, but also how these benefits intersect with other rights you have for which the union may have bargained.

Workers Compensation Benefits for Union Workers

Workers’ compensation benefits can include temporary total disability benefits, permanent total disability benefits, vocational rehabilitation, and medical benefits arising out of your work-related injuries. After getting injured on the job or suffering repetitive stress injuries, you should notify your boss and union, even if you believe they are aware of what happened. It is wise to put this notification in writing and to be scrupulously honest in what you tell both the employer and the union. Workers’ compensation benefits are no-fault benefits. This means you cannot be denied because your employer points out you were partially or fully to blame for the injuries you suffered.

You should not wait to have your claim denied before hiring an experienced law firm. It can be difficult to get an administrative law judge’s rulings overturned once they are made. When our attorneys are involved early on in the process, we can work towards making sure the best possible outcome is reached in your claim and that any other rights imposed by the union are also handled appropriately. We will scrutinize what happened to you to determine whether it is appropriate to bring a third party lawsuit in court

Third-Party Lawsuit

Another reason it is critical to retain an experienced lawyer is to ensure your best interests are protected. You may be able to pursue a third party lawsuit for damages. In most cases, workers’ compensation benefits do not fully cover the economic harm to a union worker. They represent only a portion of wage loss arising out of work-related injuries, and they don’t cover noneconomic losses at all. However, personal injury lawsuits allow you to recover a full spectrum of relief if fault is proven.

You can obtain both economic and noneconomic damages by bringing a third-party lawsuit. In many cases, it is appropriate to bring a third-party lawsuit because of a negligent driver or defective piece of equipment. Your employer’s insurer will have subrogation rights in your recovery; this means there will be numerous parties that have an interest in what happens in your claim, and not all of their interests will be aligned with yours.

The theory under which we can pursue relief depends on the specific circumstances. For work-related injuries in a truck accident, for instance, we may need to establish negligence. This means we’ll need to prove: (1) you were owed a duty of care by the defendant, (2) breach of the duty to use reasonable care, (3) causation, and (4) damages. Unlike workers’ compensation benefits, damages we recover for you in a third party lawsuit can be reduced by an amount equal to your percentage of fault for the accident.

Hire a Chicago Law Firm for Union Worker Injuries

Our attorneys handle workers’ compensation claims arising out of union worker injuries in Champaign, Rockford, Quincy, and Aurora, as well as Sangamon, Winnebago, Kane, Cook, and Adams Counties. We also handle third party lawsuits and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) claims. Call us at 312-724-5846 or complete our online form.