You don’t see this a ton in Illinois workers’ compensation cases, but you are seeing it more and more.

We received a call from a worker who injured her leg and has been off work for a few months.  Right now the treatment has been mostly physical therapy and pain medications, but there has been talk about needing Surgery in the future.

The worker was only at the job part time so the TTD rate is really low, about $200.  The insurance company knows (or at least believes) that this worker doesn’t have much money, so they tried something that is really shady.  They offered around $10,000 to just close out the case telling the worker, “We’ll just give you all of your money now so you don’t have to wait.”

They make it seem like they are being really generous, but if you look closer you realize they are trying to screw this worker in three ways:

1. If she has to get surgery, it will cost 3-4 times more than what they are offering her and additional medical care after that could be another 20k.
2. While her weekly check is low, if she does have surgery and is off for a year, that would be 10k in benefits she’d miss out on.
3. On top of all of this, she’d still be entitled to a settlement when she’s all better.

She called me just wanting to know if this was fair or if she should counter and was shocked to learn the truth as to what the case is really worth and how much this “generous” Settlement would actually cost her in the end.

Pretty much everyone wants to settle their case if they can, but nothing is more important than your health.  Beyond that, there’s no point in settling a case for an amount that is grossly unfair and low.  A settlement will come and won’t go away because you waited until you are all better before considering one.

We don’t promise a result, but do promise that we will always put your interests about ours and do whatever we can to get the best result possible.  If you want to talk about a case call us at (312) 346-5578 for help anywhere in Illinois.