Determining How Much An Injured Worker Receives
The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act provides immediate temporary total disability (TTD) payments that cover two-thirds of an employee’s average weekly wage tax free and 100 percent of medical care.
A worker who is permanently injured but able to return to work may receive permanent partial disability (PPD), while a worker who cannot return to work following an injury may receive permanent total disability (PTD). This is primarily what people are referencing when they talk about the “value” of their case. How much a worker recovers in PPD or PTD depends upon a number of factors. An injured worker may also be entitled to wage differential benefits in the event they have permanent restrictions that preclude them from going back to their previous employment but are able to work, earning a lower wage.
Maximum Medical Improvement
In order to calculate how much an injured worker will receive in PPD or PTD payments, the injured party must reach a state of permanency or maximum medical improvement (MMI). This means a doctor has determined the injured party has plateaued in terms of recovery. A person who has reached MMI may have all of the physical and mental abilities he or she had before the accident, or he or she may not have the same physical or mental ability and never will.
The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act assigns a specific value for the physical loss of a body part or the permanent loss of use of a body part. This is known as the schedule of injuries, and it is expressed in a total number of weeks of PPD the worker can receive. For example, if a worker suffers partial loss of a body part, the PPD rate is calculated by measuring the percentage loss, multiplying that percentage by the total number of weeks the body part is worth, and multiplying that by your PPD rate.
Loss of a hand or foot is worth significantly more than the loss of a toe. It is complex and often contentious process, which is why hiring a knowledgeable and experienced workers’ compensation attorney is so important.
Your Case Is Unique
The fact is every workers’ compensation case is unique. While there are similarities from one case to another that allow a workers’ comp attorney to rely on past experience to help maximize the value of a case, you also need to work with a lawyer who will review the facts of your case carefully and develop a strategy that is tailored to those facts.
At Hannigan Botha & Sievers, Ltd., we have decades of experience, and we have worked for insurance companies on the other side of these cases. That means we understand the tactics that are used to try to minimize or deny claims, and we know how to combat those tactics.
Call 847-388-0874 or use our online contact form to schedule a free consultation. We will review the facts of your case and recommend an effective course of action. We represent clients in Lake County and all surrounding counties from our office in Mundelein.
About Us
We are a boutique law firm located in the Northwest suburbs focusing our expertise on workers’ compensation law. We exclusively represent injured workers in all counties of northern Illinois, including Lake, McHenry, Kane, Will, Winnebago, DuPage and Cook counties.