Most people we talk to like where they work and if they have gotten Hurt on the job, they just want to get better and get back to work.  When we represent you in that situation we do whatever we can to make sure that bringing a claim does not create any awkwardness for you at work.  Remember, these cases are NOT lawsuits.

Sometimes though you work at a terrible place and then get injured.  Maybe you have restrictions that the boss isn’t following. Maybe they try to make you feel like garbage for getting hurt.  Maybe it’s always been a bad place to work at.

The question is, how will quitting your job affect your workers’ compensation case in Illinois?

The answer is that it depends how serious your injury is. They will always have to pay any reasonable and related medical bills if you are hurt at work.  But if you are authorized off work by your doctor because of your job injury, the moment you have any restrictions, your TTD benefits can get cut off.

So let’s say that you hurt your back and have to have surgery which will per your doctor keep you off work for eight weeks.  The insurance company will immediately send you to an IME doctor who will state that you can work with no lifting more than five pounds.  Now even if that job didn’t exist at your old employer, you can bet they will say that they would have found work for you within that restriction and if they do, no matter how BS it is, you will be without pay.

When it comes time to settle the case, if you have permanent restrictions and the employer won’t take you back, it could make your case worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.  If you have quit though they’d say that they would have taken you back had you not quit so while you will still get a settlement, it won’t be as much.

Bottom line is that we get that some jobs can be toxic.  Sometimes you need to quit.  We just recommend that you don’t do it without talking to an experienced work comp attorney first because it could affect how much your case is worth.

If you want to talk about any Illinois workers’ compensation issues with one of our attorneys for free, call us any time at (312) 346-5578 or fill out our contact form and we’ll call you.