Illinois governor proposes reforms for workers’ compensation

On behalf of Jeffrey Frederick of Frederick & Hagle posted in Workers’ Compensation on Thursday, February 19, 2015.

Injured workers across the state of Illinois rely on their benefits from workers’ compensation to take care of themselves and their family as they recover from an on-the-job accident. These benefits are often invaluable those who suffered harm in a workplace accident. However, recent reform for workers’ compensation proposed by Gov. Rauner during his State of the State address may have some people worried.

Workers’ compensation last dealt with reform in 2011, although the governor apparently wasn’t pleased with those efforts. Some of the proposed reforms could possibly make it more difficult for injured workers to have access to the benefits that they need in order to recover. For instance, there appears to be some people who have expressed upset about the current rules surrounding the requirement for causation in a workplace accident.

It is unclear how any reform would affect those who rely on these benefits in Illinois. Although injured workers are almost no doubt in the minority of the population, there are still a significant number who utilize benefits to get back on their feet financially after a workplace accident. According to a study based on 2014 numbers, Illinois was the seventh highest state for workers’ compensation. That’s a hefty number of injured employees.

For the time being, proposed reform to the workers’ compensation system is still mostly conjecture. Most people in Illinois understand the value of these benefits, particularly for those who are breadwinners for their family. Workers’ compensation benefits can help address more than just lost wages, but can also alleviate the unjust burden created by mountains of medical debt for an accident that happened on the job.

Source: bnd.com, “Let reform start with workers’ comp“, Feb. 4, 2015