“How does workers’ comp work in Illinois? How do I start a claim?”

“How does workers’ comp work in Illinois? How do I start a claim?”

“How does workers’ comp work in Illinois? How do I start a claim?”

1.  Report your injury to your employer.
2.  Seek medical attention.  Within 24 hours of your injury is preferred, and then, immediate care should not count as one of your two (or only one) choice of doctor by Illinois law.  If a doctor documents a referral to another doctor, then that does not count as a choice.  If your employer has a PPP (preferred provider program) then you have only one “choice” of doctor, but again, you may see more doctors beyond the one choice, if done properly by doctor referral.
3.  Your employer SHOULD report your work injury to their workers’ compensation insurance company.
4.  You will be contacted by the work comp insurance company.  They will try to take a recorded statement from you, and you should NOT give a recorded statement to them, no matter what lie they tell you.  By law you do not have to give a recorded accident statement to them.  They only take this to use it against you.
5.  If you are not contacted by a work comp insurance company, and your boss / employer does not give you information about a work comp insurance company, then this signals a problem.  Sometimes, this is just a slowness problem by the work comp insurance company and a failure of communication by an employer, but aside from that, it signals a problem: Either your employer does not have work comp insurance, or, your employer is trying to get away with not reporting your work injury to their insurance in order to keep their insurance rates from rising.  Both cases strongly suggest you seek advice from an experienced workers’ comp attorney to help you figure out your options.
6.  If you take my advice and do NOT give them a recorded statement, then you may hit a wall and have problems getting work comp insurance to pay for your medical bills, and they may try to pressure you to give a statement.  They also may try to play nice with you to keep you from calling an experienced work comp attorney.
7.  It is in your best interest to at least seek free advice from an experienced work comp attorney.  He or she can tell you more about how the process works, and answer your questions to put you at ease.  You have everything to gain and nothing to lose.  Work comp and personal injury lawyer Peter Corti is one option for you, for a free private talk, at phone # (312)-782-8372, or contact me by filling out our contact form (click here to contact us).