Rockford Illinois Workers' Compensation Law Blog

At Gesmer & Reynolds, P.C., in Rockford, Illinois, our attorneys represent people in the region, including suburban Chicago and southern Wisconsin, in their applications for benefits available through the Social Security Administration, or SSA. Readers may be more familiar with Social Security Disability Insurance, called SSDI, which is public disability insurance. People earn SSDI coverage through their history of Social Security payroll deductions.

For those who do not have enough work history for SSDI eligibility, the Supplemental Security Income program, known as SSI, should be considered. SSI is a monthly governmental payment based on disability, blindness or older age combined with low income and assets.

Workers' compensation is a system to help better ensure injured workers receive prompt compensation when injured on-the-job. But what exactly does this mean? How do workers get their workers' comp benefits? Do all injuries qualify? This piece will delve into these and a few other common questions when it comes to workers' comp in Illinois.

First, it is important to note state laws often govern workers' compensation laws. As such, it is important to become acquainted with the laws that apply in the state you live and work. This piece will focus specifically on workers' comp in Illinois.

Under Illinois workers' compensation law, when an employee dies from a work-related accident, injury or disease, their spouse and certain other surviving loved ones may be entitled to death benefits. In our last blog, we described a new Illinois law that fixes a loophole in workers' compensation benefits for asbestos-related diseases from occupational exposure.

The new law allows employees with occupational illnesses from asbestos or radiation exposure to file lawsuits against their employers if the disease manifests after 25 years from exposure, including suits for wrongful death from the conditions.

When a disabled person's application for Social Security Disability Insurance or SSDI is approved, there is a five-month wait period before monthly cash benefits begin. This time can be difficult financially for those waiting for payments to start because their regular income was likely interrupted by their disabling conditions.

Most tragically, for those claimants with terminal illnesses, there is a risk of passing away during the five-month waiting period without seeing a dime of benefits, which has happened.