Illinois Construction Workers’ Compensation

The benefits an injured Illinois construction worker can claim

Illinois workers’ compensation is a no-fault system. An injured construction worker does not have to prove the employer was careless, and in most cases their own carelessness does not defeat the claim either. What has to be shown is that the injury arose out of and in the course of employment. In exchange for that, the Act is the exclusive remedy against the direct employer — which is why a separate third-party claim against another company on the site so often matters.

The main categories of benefit

• Medical treatment under 820 ILCS 305/8(a). The employer pays for reasonable and necessary care related to the injury. The worker generally gets two choices of physician plus each doctor’s chain of referrals.
• Temporary total disability (TTD) under 820 ILCS 305/8(b) — two-thirds of the average weekly wage while the worker cannot work at all, subject to statutory minimum and maximum rates.
• Temporary partial disability (TPD) when the worker returns to light duty at reduced earnings, paying two-thirds of the gap between the pre-injury wage and the light duty wage.
• Permanent partial disability (PPD) — either a scheduled award under 820 ILCS 305/8(e) for a listed body part, or a wage differential under 8(d)(1) where the worker can still work but earns less.
• Death benefits under 820 ILCS 305/7 for the family of a worker killed on the job, plus a statutory burial benefit.

The two deadlines that end claims

Notice to the employer is due within 45 days of the accident under 820 ILCS 305/6(c). Late notice does not automatically end a claim, but it hands the insurer a defence it will use. The formal Application for Adjustment of Claim must be filed with the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission within three years of the accident, or two years from the last payment of compensation, whichever gives more time, under 820 ILCS 305/6(d). That second deadline is hard.

Attorney fees in Illinois workers’ compensation cases are capped by statute at 20 percent of the disputed amount recovered, under 820 ILCS 305/16a, and are subject to Commission approval. There is no hourly billing and no fee on benefits the insurer was already paying without a fight.

Most disputes are not about whether the accident happened. They are about causation, the extent of permanent disability, whether treatment was reasonable and necessary, and how the average weekly wage was calculated — which is where most denials actually originate.

Review the compensation topics that matter after a construction injury