Veteran holding American flag

Protections for Veterans Returning to the Workforce

Veterans and military personnel face a number of issues when returning to civilian life. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) is a federal law designed to protect military personnel with respect to their civilian careers. Specifically, the Act intends to ensure that military personnel (1) are not disadvantaged in their […]

Work Injury Claim form

The Workers’ Compensation System Should Not Be Used as a Scapegoat

As the economy limps along, everyone is looking for someone, or something, to blame. Increasingly, workers’ compensation programs have been targeted, with opponents portraying them as an unnecessary expense that undermines local businesses’ attempts to survive in this challenging economic climate. Critics of the workers’ compensation system offer what appear to be, at first glance, […]

Work injury claim form

Are Work-At-Home Employees Entitled to Workers’ Compensation?

A New Jersey appellate court recently considered a very interesting case where the husband of a woman who died of a pulmonary embolism while working from home for AT&T was seeking workers’ compensation benefits related to her death. He alleged that her pulmonary embolism was caused by her sedentary work lifestyle. As an employee of […]

Gavel and stethoscope on a table

Towers Automotive: Illinois Court On Workers’ Compensation Benefits and Excess Hours Worked

The Appellate Court of Illinois, First District recently addressed the issue of whether Workers’ Compensation benefits can include hours worked in excess of a traditional work week. In other words, can benefits include compensation for overtime pay? In Tower Automotive v. Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, 2011 WL 341234, the claimant alleged that during the course […]

Stethoscope and gavel

Illinois Court on Admissibility of Economist’s Testimony in Workers’ Compensation Case

In a recent Appellate Court of Illinois, First District decision, United Airlines v. Workers’ Compensation Commission, No. 1-09-2966WC, at issue was whether the lower court properly upheld the adoption of the decision of the arbitrator below in an Illinois Workers’ Compensation case. The disputed issue revolved around the determination of the nature and extent of […]

Wood Gavel

Illinois Workers’ Compensation Reform Bill May Be Enacted in the Future

The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Reform Bill was due to be voted on last week, but fortunately, the call to vote didn’t occur before the new legislature was sworn in.That means the bill will be tabled for now, which is good news for injured Illinois workers. The bill was slanted heavily in favor of employers, rather […]

American flag and citizenship

United States 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Addresses Immigration Status in Workers’ Compensation Claim

Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit handed down an important workers’ compensation decision. In Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. v Director, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, No. 09-60095, the Fifth Circuit considered whether Jorge Rodriguez, an undocumented immigran who was injured on the job, was entitled to benefits under the Longshore […]