The worker was operating a train exiting a tunnel when he observed two young men running across the tracks. The operator was not able to stop the train, and he heard a thumping noise that caused him to believe that the train had run over and killed one of the men. However, upon exiting the train, the operator observed the two men running away.

The train operator sought psychological counseling for sleep disturbance, anxiety, flashbacks, fatigue and headaches. He also sought workers’ compensation benefits for a psychiatric disability.

The arbitrator in the case denied the worker benefits, finding that he was not exposed to a severe and sudden emotional shock. The arbitrator’s decision was confirmed by the commission.

The commission held that the operator had testified credibly as to the events. However, because the injured man was able to stand up under his own power, jump a fence and run away, the operator did not face the emotional shock of witnessing the aftermath of what he believed had happened.

In addition, the commission agreed with the arbitrator’s finding that the alleged mental disorder did not arise from a situation beyond the usual emotional tension and strain that workers must experience, particularly those who operate motorized vehicles.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago workers compensation attorney and work injury lawyer with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

The case arose from an injury the bicycle messenger received when he was struck from behind by a vehicle while making a delivery. Evidence submitted in the case indicated that the messenger and the courier service had signed an independent contractor agreement, and that the messenger had also signed an agreement with the National Independent Contractor Association. The agreements provided that the messenger would be paid by the association after deductions were made for general liability insurance and bicycle insurance, as well as for leasing fees for a radio and other equipment.

Despite the language of the agreements, the commission affirmed the decision of the arbitrator, finding that the messenger was an employee of the courier service. The commission relied on a previous decision involving the same courier service and a nearly identical independent contractor agreement. In finding that the messenger was not an independent contractor in the previous decision, the current commission noted that the courier service still exercised control over the messenger’s work schedule and other work details. The commission also considered the fact that the messenger’s work was the lifeblood of the courier service business and that the work did not involve particular skills.

In both decisions, the commission found that an employer-employee relationship existed between the messenger and the courier service.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago workers compensation attorney and work injury lawyer with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

The statement said that the Chamber’s report misrepresents facts and is part of a campaign to “dismantle” the workers’ compensation system.

The report criticized specific judges for court decisions that resulted in higher payments to injured workers. The Chamber alleged that these decisions hurt the state’s economy and limited some of the benefits expected by recent reform of the workers’ compensation system. The Chamber also blamed Illinois’ high workers’ compensation insurance premium on the judicial decisions cited in the report.

The AFL-CIO and ITLA pointed out that the cases the Chamber criticized predate the current reforms, and that the reforms have reduced insurance rates by more than $315 million per year, or 14.1 percent. Their statement also suggested that if employers are not saving on insurance, then the insurance companies must be keeping the profits.

The statement also said that the Chamber’s report amounted to “cherry picking,” as the cases criticized in the report represent less than one percent of workers’ comp cases disposed of by the Appellate and Supreme courts.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago workers compensation attorney and work injury lawyer with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

Rates are issued for different categories of workers, and insurance companies calculate workers’ compensation insurance premiums by multiplying the rate by the number of workers at a particular company.

Gov. Pat Quinn’s office took credit for the drop in the insurance rate, saying that the rate has dropped 13.3 percent over three years as a result of reforms signed into law by the governor. According to the governor’s office, the rate drop has resulted in $315 million in savings for businesses in Illinois.

Quinn’s office said that the latest rate decrease could save an additional $110 million.

The reforms were sent to Gov. Quinn’s desk by lawmakers in 2011. Changes included capping the number of weeks of compensation for carpal tunnel syndrome, cutting medical fees, making it more difficult for workers who were intoxicated at the time of their injury to win claims and allowing employers to form medical networks to handle cases.

The new rate must be confirmed and approved by the Illinois Department of Insurance in a 60-day-long process. If the rate is accepted, it will take effect beginning in January. According to Deputy Director James Stephens, approximately 70 percent of companies followed the rate in 2012.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago workers compensation attorney and work injury lawyer with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

Cynthia Hewitt filed a lawsuit against Casey’s General Store in Maryville. According to the lawsuit, Hewitt began working at the store in September 2011. She claims that she fell and injured her back while moving a tall stepladder inside the store on February 28, 2012. After the injury, Hewitt filed a successful workers’ compensation claim, receiving $220 per week in benefits for total temporary disability beginning March 3, 2012.

Hewitt says in the complaint that she underwent surgery on her back in July 2012 and was approved by her doctor six months later to return to light duty work, meaning she could lift a maximum of 15 pounds. She claims the store refused to assign her to light duty work.

In March 2012, Hewitt says her doctor approved her return to work with no restrictions, and her disability payments ceased. However, according to the lawsuit, the store refused to allow her to return to work. Hewitt claims she applied for unemployment benefits but was denied because her employer had reported that she was “discharged.”

The complaint alleges that the employer’s actions are a violation of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act. The lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $50,000.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago workers compensation attorney and work injury lawyer with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

A security therapy aide employed by the Department of Human Services testified that she was writing notes while sitting on a plastic chair when the chair slipped out from under her and she fell, injuring her back, head and right hand. The worker testified that the floors had been waxed the previous night, and though the chair was not on wheels, it slipped on the floor.

The workers’ compensation arbitrator found that the accident arose out of and in the course of the worker’s employment and awarded permanent partial disability benefits and medical expenses. However, the commission reversed the arbitrator’s decision, finding that the aide was not eligible for benefits.

The commission found that the worker was not exposed to increased risk of falling merely by being seated in the chair and that she did not show how her injuries arose out of her employment. The commission found that the aide did not show a causal relationship between the floors being waxed the previous night and her falling out of her chair.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago workers compensation attorney and work injury lawyer with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

There are nearly 4 million workplace injuries each year, but hospitals in the United States currently do not track or record these accidents. Instead, the estimated number of workplace injuries comes from probability samples, which may underestimate the actual number of injuries. Such estimates also lack crucial details about how injuries happen that would be extremely helpful in prevention efforts.

The researchers proposed the data collection practice in an article in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The authors point out the benefits of collecting occupational and industry data and describe coding standards and other processes that could be used. They point out that the change would not be cost-intensive, since existing federal standard codes could simply be added to hospital discharge data. A program at Michigan State University tracked amputations that involved workplace injuries and led to the discovery of workplace hazards.

The data collection proposal came out of the work of the Firefighter Injury Research and Safety Trends project at Drexel University, which is working toward a comprehensive system for recording information about injuries to firefighters.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago workers compensation attorney and work injury lawyer with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

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In the case, Wade v. General Dynamics, an operator was required to examine parts in one area of her workplace and then take them to another area that contained a “reverse torque” machine. The worker stepped on her shoelace when she turned to leave one area, losing her balance and holding on to a table to keep from falling. She experienced pain in her buttocks and lower back and received a diagnosis of a sprain in her spine, hip spasms and pain in her knee. The worker underwent surgery.

The workers’ compensation arbitrator found that the worker lacked credibility. The IWCC, while finding that the worker was credible, denied her workers’ compensation benefits. The commission found that the employee was not required to work at a pace that would have made it more likely that she would step on her shoelace. Because she was not at greater risk of stepping on her shoelace than the general public, the injury was found not to have arisen out of and in the course of her employment.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago workers compensation attorney and work injury lawyer with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

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The bills, House Bills 1245, 1246, 2229 and 2769, are four of nine bills involving the workers’ compensation system introduced by Kay this session.

HB 2229 is opposed by the Illinois Trial Lawyers’ Association (ITLA), the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois (AFFI) and other groups. The bill aims to change current workers’ compensation law, which puts emergency medical technicians (EMTs) in the same category as firefighters for purposes of employers purchasing workers’ compensation insurance. Under the new bill, those provisions of the law would only be applicable to EMTs who are also cross-trained as firefighters. Kay said current law places an undue burden on municipalities and counties that pay the increased amount for workers’ compensation insurance for EMTs.

HB 2769, also introduced by Kay, would change workers’ compensation law such that any amount awarded for a partial disability would be subtracted from any amount awarded for a later injury to the same part of the body, and would limit partial disability payments to 500 weeks, which would constitute total disability. Kay said the changes would prevent situations in which partial disability awards amounted to more than what a total disability award would have been.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago workers compensation attorney and work injury lawyer with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

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The difference between average compensation levels for the two groups was approximately $6,000.

The researchers cross-referenced medical records from the Illinois Department of Public Health and data from the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission. They evaluated 1,039 cases occurring between 2000 and 2005.

In order to accurately compare settlements with respect to a single variable—race—researchers had to control for other variables that are known to influence the amount awarded in workers’ compensation claims. These include wage rates, the severity and type of injuries, length of disability, percentage of partial permanent disability, and whether the claimant was represented by an attorney. After adjusting data to account for these factors, researchers found a significantly higher average settlement amount for white workers.

The study was purely statistical, and an examination of possible causes of the disparity was outside its scope. Still, the lead author offered two possible explanations.

“It’s really not clear why this is happening. One explanation is that there is some systemic bias or prejudices occurring within the system,” said Lee Friedman, assistant professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at UIC. “Or, it could be that the level of information and knowledge about how the system works — and what can actually be litigated, disputed, or requested for compensation — might vary by ethnic group.”

Friedman also speculated that the average white worker may tend to take more time off for a given injury than the average black or Hispanic worker with a similar injury, which would result in greater compensation for lost wages.

Friedman also commented on the 2011 overhaul to the state’s workers’ compensation laws.

“With the new law… there was a lot of house cleaning that occurred within the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission,” he said. “They’ve hired a whole new staff. It might have a very important effect on the potential disparities that are occurring between workers based on ethnicity.”

The study was published in the October issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The Center to Protect Workers’ Rights, based in Silver Spring, Md., in cooperation with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, funded the study through a grant to the UIC School of Public Health.

Robert Briskman is a Chicago workers’ compensation attorney and Chicago workers compensation lawyer with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

New England Compounding Center (NECC), the drug compounding pharmacy that produced and sold the tainted shots, already faces numerous lawsuits. But the company is fairly small, and those infected with meningitis are now suing larger targets.

In New Jersey, two doctors and orthopedic clinics that provided the steroid injections have been sued. Legal experts predict more cases will follow in that state and others.

If courts define the injections as products, doctors and clinics could be sued for product liability. But if the administration of the injections is deemed to be a service, plaintiffs would likely have to prove negligence under medical malpractice laws—a much more difficult task.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers may look to clients’ medical bills to determine whether they have a case under strict product liability laws. If a bill lists the steroid and its administration as separate line items, an argument can be made that the drug was a product sold. This argument would be less sound if patients were billed only for the injection.

In some states, doctors cannot be sued under strict liability standards. In others, caps are imposed on damages for such claims. NECC’s tainted injections have infected patients in 19 states. Because laws vary across those states, the outcomes of lawsuits against doctors and clinics are likely to vary as well. Some plaintiffs may even file claims both for malpractice and for product liability in the hopes that at least one holds up.

Distributors of NECC’s products may also find themselves named in lawsuits.

Another possible target is the State of Massachusetts, which regulates drug compounders like NECC within the state, but legal experts say the legal standards necessary to sue the state are difficult to meet.

The federal government will likely not face any lawsuits. The agency is under scrutiny because it had cited NECC for regulatory violations as recently as 2006, but the FDA’s authority to regulate drug compounders is quite limited.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer and Chicago medical malpractice attorney with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.