Chicago Workers' Compensation Attorney Blog

The jobless rate in Chicago fell in June, the first year-over-year decline in more than three years, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The rate dropped from 10.9 percent to 10.6 percent. However, the month-over-month figure shows the rate rose from 10.4 percent, representing a monthly loss of 61,900 jobs.

The Great Recession has caused great upheaval in the workplace. Layoffs frequently mean that remaining employees are doing more with less and may be at greater risk of suffering a Chicago work accident. Likewise, new employees are entitled to safety training and may be at increased risk of being injured on the job. Sometimes a new employee, or an employee laboring under the constant threat of layoffs or downsizing, may be reluctant to report a work injury. Our Chicago workers' compensation attorneys remind employees that properly reporting a work injury is critical to protecting your rights and the financial well-being of you and your family.

There are laws in place to protect employees from being fired or otherwise retaliated against for reporting a work injury or unsafe working conditions. The long-term risks of not reporting a work injury are too great to sacrifice for short-term job security. Those who fail to properly document a work injury may be unable to collect should future medical complications force time away from work or result in a disability.

The workplace will remain more volatile than usual as the economy moves toward recovery.

“Any economic rebound following the most profound national recession in decades will include slight up-and-down movements in the unemployment rate as well as the number of jobs created," said Illinois Employment Security Director Maureen O'Donnell.

It is more critical than every that employees protect their rights when injured on the job in Illinois.