Illinois Workers’ Compensation Claims and Settlements
According to the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission Annual Report for fiscal year 2008 (the most recent one available), each year, workers suffer approximately 250,000 work-related injuries in Illinois. Of those, approximately 60,000 lead to claims filed with the Commission.
The Commission holds hearings at a number of sites throughout the state, and cases are filed in the hearing site closest to the location where the injury occurred. In 2008, 22,818 claims were filed at the Chicago site.
Of the number of cases that reached a resolution in 2008, 87% ended through settlements, rather than contested hearings. An additional 9% of the cases were dismissed.
According to the same report, in 83% of the cases in which a worker filed an application with the Commission, the worker was represented by an attorney. However, cases may also settle without an application ever being filed; in such cases, the settlement contract (which still has to be filed with the Commission) is called an “original settlement.” In 2008, in 95% of the cases in which the parties reached “original settlements” (settlements reached before a claim was ever filed), the injured workers involved had not been represented by an attorney.
It is important for a claimant to know that, if an injured worker’s condition changes within 30-60 months of a decision or settlement reached in his or her workers’ compensation case, either the worker or the employee may return to the Commission and ask for a modification of the decision or agreement reached earlier. However, in 2008 only 118 cases involved such post-award petitions, and only 25% of the requested modifications were approved.
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