Road Construction Workers With Temporary and Total Disabilities

Chicago Lawyers for Disabled Road Construction Workers

Road construction workers face many dangers while performing work. These include risks of suffering acute injuries in a traffic accident. They also include risks of repetitive stress injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, or injuries from tools. Illinois requires most employers to carry workers’ compensation insurance that pays benefits when an employee is injured on the job. While this system was intended to make things easier for workers, in practice it can be difficult to navigate. Road construction workers with temporary and total disabilities can obtain a portion of their lost wages through the workers’ compensation system. In some cases, these benefits are paid while an insurer continues to investigate; benefits may stop abruptly, or certain benefits may be paid while others are denied. At Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca, our Chicago workers’ compensation lawyers have more than 60 years of experience evaluating clients’ cases from every angle to make sure they obtain the greatest amount of compensation available to them.

Road Construction Workers Who Need Temporary Total Disability Benefits

As a road construction worker, you should let your employer know right away if you suffer repetitive stress injuries or acute injuries that are work-related. You have 45 days to provide the first notification of job-related injuries to your employer. However, as a practical matter, it can be important to report the injuries right away so that there is no skepticism or doubt about your claim. One reason claims are denied is because an insurer believes that the injuries are not work-related. You should also seek medical care immediately after an accident or once you become aware of a chronic injury, and let the doctor know that your injuries are related to your job.

As a road construction worker who is injured or made sick on the job, you may not be able to work at the same job. For instance, if you work as a paver and were struck by a pick-up truck and suffer broken bones, you may not be able to continue performing paving work and may need to take months off work. Likewise, if you catch COVID-19 from another road construction worker on the crew, you may find yourself unable to perform road construction while you quarantine and isolate.

Most employers in the state are required to carry workers’ compensation insurance to cover their employers for work-related injuries and illnesses. Among the benefits available to you may be temporary total disability benefits. These are intended to replace 2/3 of your average weekly wage. However, the calculation of your average weekly wage can have an impact on the amount you receive. Sometimes insurers use a lower average weekly wage than they should so that they don’t have to pay as much in disability benefits.

You are entitled to receive temporary total disability benefits after you have been unable to work for at least three days. If you are unable to work for 14 or more days, you can receive benefits for the first three days retroactively.

Third-party Lawsuits

Temporary and total disability pay will not fully compensate for your wage loss during the days you are recovering from your illness or injury. It won’t cover noneconomic losses such as pain and suffering. In order to obtain your total wage loss and your noneconomic losses, our firm will need to successfully file and pursue a third-party lawsuit against someone other than your employer. For example, if you were struck by a distracted driver and left disabled because of broken bones, we may be able to bring a personal injury lawsuit against the distracted driver. In most cases, our attorneys would need to establish the defendant’s negligence to recover your total wage loss. If you were injured because of a dangerous road condition on a private road, we might be able to pursue these damages from a negligent property owner in a premises liability lawsuit.

Retain an Experienced Chicago Workers’ Compensation Lawyer

If you are a road construction worker with temporary and total disabilities as a result of injuries on the job, you should call our seasoned Chicago workers’ compensation attorneys for a consultation. With more than 60 years of experience, we seek best results by looking at cases every all angles to determine whether there are grounds for recover through a personal injury action, workers’ compensation claim, or SSDI claim. We represent clients in Rockford, Champaign, Quincy, and Aurora, as well as Sangamon, Winnebago, Kane, Cook, and Adams Counties. Call us at 312-724-5846 or complete our online form.