The Illinois Workers' Compensation Act provides that if you were injured "in the course of" and "arising out of" the employment, you are probably entitled to benefits. In prior articles we discussed an overview of the Act, when it applies, how to report an injury and what medical benefits it provides.
In this post we will discuss the weekly paycheck benefits provided by the Act and how the overall value of your case is calculated. Cases under the Act are brought before the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission and our lawyers have recovered hundreds of millions in payments for our clients over our more than 20-year history.
You are entitled to weekly benefits usually referred to as Temporary Total Disability payments (TTD) for the period in which you are unable to work. Those payments are generally 2/3 of your average weekly wage. We make sure that your benefits are accurately calculated from the 52-week period prior to the work injury. We insist that your checks are paid promptly and that the calculations take into account second jobs from which you are equally disabled.
Just as your weekly benefits are calculated based on your prior earnings, so too, is the overall value of your case, taking into account the permanent partial disability you have endured. Pursuant to Section 8.1(b) of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act permanent partial disability is established using five enumerated criteria, with no single factor being the sole determinant of disability. The criteria to be considered are as follows: (1) the reported level of impairment pursuant to the AMA guidelines (if any); (2) the occupation of the injured employee; (3) the age of the employee at the time of injury; (4) the employee’s future earning capacity; and (5) evidence of disability corroborated by medical records which would include your doctors treatment records, including tests like MRIs, NCVs, and Functional Capacity Evaluations (FCE). Our Chicago workers compensation lawyers have had decades of experience in calculating your degree of disability. This may be expressed as a percentage of “loss of use” of a limb or body part or as a percentage of the “use of a person” as a whole. These percentages are calculated to a number of weeks of compensation, at 60% of your average weekly wage rate, and a numerical amount is determined. Our workers’ compensation lawyers and experienced staff are with you every step of the way to aggressively pursue full and complete compensation for your injury.
Call (312) 779-0366 to schedule your free consultation.