How is the lump sum settlement that an injured worker receives at the conclusion of a workers’ compensation case calculated in Illinois?
Every workplace injury case is different. A lot of it depends on what your condition is at the conclusion of your medical care and treatment. Are you returned to work full duty by your employer? Are you unable to return to your former position? Are you now receiving less salary or wages than you received before the accident? Are you permanently and totally disabled and incapable of working? These are all of the questions that a skilled workers’ compensation attorney must ask.
If you’re able to return to work full duty we analyze what those types of injuries and permanency disabilities in the past would typically receive from the Workers’ Compensation Commission.
If an employee is unable to return to their prior job and incurs a wage loss because of that, we could try to obtain a settlement based upon a wage loss differential—the money that they’ve lost as a result of this injury.
Permanent Disabilities
If you’re never able to work again, we would attempt to prove permanent total disability. There are two different types of disability that we may seek. The first is when someone is completely disabled where they’re unable to function on their own and likely require the assistance of another person to perform daily tasks. In this situation, the disabled worker would be entitled to a permanent total disability award.
The other type is what’s called an odd-lot permanent total disability. We would attempt to prove this theory in situations where, because of these injuries and the resulting disabilities and deficits, there is no feasible job market that exists anymore for you. These injured workers typically are capable of work but there is no feasible job or employment that can be obtained as a result of the injuries.