Generally, yes. If you have developed asthma for the first time due to a workplace exposure – or if you already had asthma but an exposure has aggravated it – you are generally entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. However, it can be somewhat challenging to...
Workers’ Compensation
7 common hazards on communication towers
Over the last few decades, work on communication towers has exploded. Before the 1980s, there was only a small, specialized industry of workers who erected, serviced and maintained broadcast and communication towers. Now, with a cellphone in every pocket,...
Illinois workers’ compensation claims for work-related hearing losses
Many Illinois jobs involve exposure to noise levels that can have a negative effect on your hearing. If you work in a loud environment and your hearing has diminished over time, there is a good chance that your hearing loss is work-related. As Harvard Health...
Paying employer’s workers’ comp premiums did not immunize nonemployer
On Friday, Jan. 21, the Illinois Supreme Court defined a class of third parties that injured workers may sue for injury or illness sustained at work. Normally, workers’ compensation is the exclusive financial remedy for a work-related injury, preventing an injured...
Enlisting a lawyer to guide you through a workers’ compensation claim
At our law firm, we help Illinois employees with their workers’ compensation claims after they have sustained work-related injury or contracted occupational diseases. It is helpful for us to become involved at the very beginning with the filing of the claim, but our...
OSHA cites national retailer for serious safety violations
When you think about dangerous jobs, retail probably doesn’t come immediately to mind. But even retail employees face serious hazards, especially when employers fail to follow federal and state safety regulations or best practices within the industry. An example of...
OSHA fines Byron rehab facility alleging failure to follow COVID-19 rules
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently inspected and fined a Byron, Illinois, rehabilitation and post-acute care facility for failing to adequately protect healthcare workers in violation of federal safety regulations. According to...
Does fault play a role in workers’ compensation?
Safety protocols and policies in workplaces are there for a reason. Sometimes they may seem unnecessarily limiting or meant to address a safety issue that would be highly unlikely to occur. But employers don’t get to pick and choose which protocols to follow. After...
Illinois construction workers at high risk of suicide
September is Suicide Prevention Month. In support of this cause, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a news release about the shockingly high rate of suicide among male construction workers as compared with employees in other industries....
Can healthcare providers get workers’ comp for PTSD?
The pandemic has taken a heavy toll on doctors, nurses and other front-line medical workers. Every day, they have faced an influx of desperate patients with COVID-19. The efforts to treat those patients – and prevent them from dying – have been extraordinary but...