Recent Workers’ Compensation Rulings Favor Claimants

Posted: December 17, 2015

The Law Office of Martin L. Glink handles hundreds of workers’ compensation claims. Thousands of people are injured each year on the job.  An employee can be injured whether he/she is a waitress who slips and falls at work or is a laborer who gets injured while working at a construction site.

Sometimes these injuries can be permanent and often inhibit the employee’s ability to return to work, to another type of job, or to the same job. Medical expenses and lost wages can start to take a toll on these employees and on their families as well.

Under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation law, most employers must provide and pay compensation for accidental injuries sustained by any employee arising out of and in the course of employment, regardless of who is at fault(820 ILCS 305/3).

A third party (other than your employer) can also be held liable and can be sued under a negligence theory on top of receiving workmen’s compensation benefits.

That said, some recent rulings favor claimants and further explain what exactly falls under the umbrella of “accidental injuries sustained by an employee arising out of and in the course of employment, regardless of who is at fault.”

In Adcock v. IWCC, 2015 Il App (2d) 130884WC, the Appellate Court ruled that the claimant’s left knee injury while sitting on a chair and welding locks “arises out of his employment.” The claimant was bound since 2007 to weld approximately 70 locks per day from a swivel chair due to a right knee condition. The appellate court ruled that when the claimant rotated his left knee in an effort to perform a welding task and suffered a medial meniscus tear, this arose out of his employment because he was exposed to the risks inherent in an everyday activity (turning in a chair) to a greater degree than the general public by virtue of his employment.

Another case, Bolingbrook Police Department v. IWCC, (2015) IL App (3d) 130869WC, a police officer injured his back while placing his duty bag (weighing approximately 40 pounds) into his personal vehicle in preparation for reporting to work. The Appellate Court affirmed the Commission’s ruling that the injury arose out of and in the course of his employment because the duty bag contained items required for performance of his police duties, and that as part of his duties, he was responsible for safekeeping of his duty bag and keeping it at home was acceptable to his employer. Therefore, it was irrelevant that the injury happened when he was lifting the bag into his car at home.

If your loved one has suffered from an injury on the job, contact our firm at (847) 394-4900 or online at <a href=”http://www.glinkpersonalinjury.com“>linktext</a> for a free consultation with one of our attorneys. You may be able to file a workers’ compensation claim, a third party-party liability lawsuit (against any third party that may have caused the injury) and other claims, depending upon your profession and the injury.