WORKERS’ COMPENSATION BENEFITS

CHICAGO WORKERS’ COMPENSATION LAWYERS FOR HEALTH CARE WORKERS

The health care industry has been hard hit by COVID, not only in terms of employees who catch the illness, but also the impact of the pandemic on the size of the workforce. Nurses and health care workers in general are working under a great deal of stress and staffing shortages are leading to more frequent work injuries. If you are concerned about workers’ compensation benefits as a health care worker, you should consult our attorneys. At Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca, our experienced workers’ compensation lawyers have provided legal representation to employees for more than 60 years.

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION BENEFITS FOR CHICAGO HEALTH CARE WORKERS

Under Illinois law, employers must provide workers’ compensation insurance for almost everyone whose employment is based in the state. Chicago healthcare practices, hospitals, and clinics are supposed to procure and pay for this insurance in case their employees are injured. Employers that knowingly and willfully failed to obtain insurance can be fined a maximum of $500 for every day they don’t comply. For many healthcare workers, confronted with intense stresses on the job during the pandemic, workers’ compensation benefits are a crucial form of survival after they become insured or made ill.

Workers’ compensation benefits to which you may be entitled as an injured or sick healthcare worker include reasonable and necessary medical expenses, temporary disability benefits, permanent total disability benefits, permanent partial disability benefits, vocational rehabilitation, and maintenance benefits. Family members may be able to obtain death benefits if a loved one’s job related injuries prove fatal.

MEDICAL BENEFITS

If you were injured on the job as a healthcare worker, workers’ compensation should pay medical benefits. This means the insurer should directly pay for all your reasonably necessary medical treatment related to the work injury. You may need to have certain treatments pre-authorized; it is important to let your provider know that you were injured or made sick on the job, and then they can seek authorization and bill your employer’s insurer directly.

DISABILITY BENEFITS

As a healthcare worker injured on the job, or made sick through your employment, you may find yourself unable to work, either temporarily or permanently. In Illinois, you can obtain temporary total disability benefits, temporary partial disability D benefits, permanent partial disability benefits, and permanent total disability benefits for job-related injuries. For example, if you were rushing from patient to patient, and therefore lifted a patient incorrectly, so that you severely strained your back and could not work for three weeks, you may be able to obtain permanent total disability benefits. If you’ve only lost use of part of your body, meaning you can’t do some of the tasks you were previously able to do, you may be able to obtain permanent partial disability benefits, which are calculated in four different ways. Our lawyers will look at the facts of your specific situation to determine whether your employer’s insurer calculated your average weekly wage, the basis for determining your benefits, correctly.

WHAT COMPENSATION IS EXCLUDED BY THE WORKERS’ COMPENSATION SYSTEM?

Unlike a third-party lawsuit, workers’ compensation insurance will not pay for noneconomic injuries like pain and suffering that were caused by your injury. So, for example, if you contracted long-haul COVID-19 while working for hospital, you will not be able to obtain compensation for the pain your symptoms have presented. You also will not be able to recover for any mental anguish or loss of enjoyment of your life. Rather, the workers’ compensation claims process will address replacement of a portion of your economic losses.

HIRE A CHICAGO LAW FIRM FOR HEALTH CARE WORKERS’ CLAIMS

Chicago health care workers can sustain devastating and disabling injuries. Our lawyers represent health care workers in Champaign, Rockford, Quincy, and Aurora, as well as Sangamon, Winnebago, Kane, Cook, and Adams Counties. Call us at 312-724-5846 or complete our online form.