PRESENTED BY: EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP, LLC.- www.exec-leadershipllc.com
January 8th, 2011 If you are injured on the job, your medical bills may be covered by your employer under workers’ compensation laws. However, in order to be eligible to a valid workers’ compensation claim, there are a few steps that you must follow.
First, you must give notice to your employer of the injury. Oftentimes, an injured employee is hesitant to report an injury in the hopes that it will improve over time. Frequently, employees are uncertain about whether to inform their manager or employer because they do not want to be viewed as a complainer. However, workers’ compensation laws require that an employee promptly give notice of the injury to his or her employer so that the employer is given the opportunity to adequately investigate the injury. The more time that passes between the injury and employer notification, the more room an employer has to dispute the claim on the grounds that the injury may have happened elsewhere.
Second, you should promptly seek medical attention. Not only should you seek medical attention immediately in order to minimize the severity of the injury, but a workers’ compensation claim is also more likely to succeed if all pertinent information is recorded. An inadequate case and injury history can be detrimental to a workers’ compensation claim. The doctor can treat your injuries and provide medical documentation of the injury, including the cause of the injury and the treatment that the injury will require.
Third, you should complete and file the workers’ compensation claim form. You, not your employer, are responsible for filing your claim with the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission and there are time limits on when you must file your workers’ compensation claim. The workers’ compensation claim form must be completed in addition to any accident reports completed for your employer. If your employer does file the claim on your behalf, you should ask for a copy of the claim. Otherwise, you should complete and promptly file a claim form with the Commission. An experienced workers compensation attorney can help you with all documents and forms that must be filed.
Finally, you may wish to consult an experienced workers’ compensation attorney. An attorney can provide you with information on applicable workers’ compensation laws and can also document the injury and the accompanying medical treatment. At Katz, Friedman, our lawyers represent many employees across a wide range of industries, including the airline industry, with workers’ compensation issues. We are particularly conversant in the workers’ compensation issues affecting flight attendants.
Katz, Friedman, Eagle, Eisenstein, Johnson & Bareck, P.C. 77 W. Washington Street 20th Floor Chicago, IL 60602-2904 Telephone: 312-263-6330 Fax: 312-372-5555 Toll Free in Illinois: 800-444-1525 National Toll Free: 888-626-5556 www.kfeej.com
