Chicago Workers’ Compensation

At Howard & Nemoy, we focus a large part of our practice on helping injured workers with their Illinois and Chicago workers compensation claims.
Our workers comp lawyers have a notable record of success assisting clients with claims involving accidental injuries, work-related death, occupational diseases and repetitive motion injuries. We work diligently to help our clients learn their full legal rights while understanding their needs and fears with such proceedings.

If you have been injured at work, are the dependent of one who died from work related injuries, or if your workers compensation claim has been denied, contact our law firm  to arrange an appointment with one of our attorneys. There is no charge for an initial consultation.

Personal injury cases are usually third-party common-law cases. There are three conditions that you need to prove as a plaintiff in order to win your case and recover money:

A duty was owed to you.
The party you’re bringing the claim against breached that duty.
There is a causal connection between the breach of that duty and the damages that you sustained and the injuries you are complaining of.
Once those are established you have to prove the nature and extent of your damages or the dollar amounts to which you are entitled.

chicago workers comp
A worker’s comp case will focus on proving that the injuries were sustained in the course and scope of the worker’s employment.

Once that’s established—and it is rare where we’ll run into a case where that doesn’t turn out to be the situation—but once that prerequisite is established you have to show that there is some permanent injury that was sustained and that you have to fit the extent of that injury into the statutorily established patterns for recovery.

Chicago worker compensation laws use a schedule of likely compensation amounts (in weeks of compensation) for each part of the human body and the percentage of disability that the injury caused.

A week of compensation is based on the worker’s average weekly wage, excluding overtime, for the week period immediately preceding the date of the injury.

Figuring the amount for worker’s compensation is a very predictable process and usually goes quickly and smoothly compared with regular third-party tort litigation, which takes a lot longer and costs a lot more money.

However, worker compensation cases generally get smaller awards than personal injury tort cases do, even when the worker has sustained a very serious injury.

But the recoveries for people that bring third-party, common-law tort cases usually are considerably more than those of even a seriously injured claimant in a workers compensation claim.

  • More Workers’ Compensation Information
  • Misconceptions
  • What you can do
    When wrongful conduct of another causes you serious injury or results in the death of a loved one, we invite you to contact the Chicago workers comp attorneys at Howard & Nemoy using our e-mail form or call our law firm to arrange a no cost, no obligation initial consultation.

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