September 2011 - Irish American News

September 2011 Irish American News “We’ve Always Been Green!” 31Illinois Makes Important Changesto the Workers’ Compensation ActThis is the first in a two-part series on the recent changes to the Workers’Compensation Act. This month, and next, we will focus on what effect thesechanges will have, on a practical level, for the injured worker. This columnwill also respond to legal questions relating to workers’ compensation andpersonal injury that are sent to us.The Healy Law Firm is compromised of eight trial attorneys, two ofwhom are from Ireland. We are located at 111 West Washington Street,Suite 1425, Chicago, Illinois 60602 (800-922-4500 or 312-977-0100).The firm concentrates in the representation of injured victims of all typesof accidents.www.HealyLawFirm.Com. Readers are encouraged to call or write withquestions concerning personal injury law.Following months of speculation,lobbying, and legislative compromise,the changes to the Workers’ CompensationAct were signed into law byGovernor Quinn on June 28th, 2011.While the changes affect both employersand employee, this first articlefocuses on certain changes that mostlimit the workers’ rights. Next monthwe will focus on additional changesand their impact to both employersand employees.Limitation of EmployeeRight to Select DoctorsOne of the most significant changesin the 2011 rewrite of the Act is therestriction of the worker’s choice ofdoctor. The Act allows for the employeror its representative (i.e. their insurancecompany) to provide a panel ofmedical providers from which theemployee must choose. The employeemay opt out of this ‘preferred providernetwork,’ but in doing so the employeeloses the choice of one doctor. Thismeans that the employee who opts-outof the employer’s panel is restricted toone doctor, whereas those that do notopt-out may choose two doctors withinthe ‘preferred provider network.’ Ineffect, the Act penalizes workers whowish to choose their own doctors wheremultiple doctors are needed. Underthe previous law, the worker had anunrestricted choice of two doctors, ifnecessary. While this can be a seriouslimitation on previous rights held bythe employee to choose two doctors ifnecessary, it is not as drastic as whatwas sought by employers to completelyeliminate the employee’s right tochoose any doctor.Limitationof Benefit PeriodsWage loss differential cases, wherea worker returns to work at a lesserpay, have now been restricted to theinjured worker reaching the age of 67,or five years from the date of any finalaward, whichever is longer. Under theold rules, wage loss differentials werepaid throughout the worker’s life.Limitationof Hand Injury ClaimsThe number of weeks of compensationpayable for a hand injury hasbeen reduced to a maximum of 190weeks. Under old rules the maximumnumber of weeks for a hand injury was205 weeks. This amounts to a loss ofcompensation of almost 10% to theworker for a serious hand injury. TheAct also limits recovery for one of themost common of workers’ compensationclaims, carpal tunnel syndrome.Recovery for carpal tunnel syndrome isnow limited at 15% of loss of the hand,unless there is clear and convincingevidence to the contrary. Where suchevidence is provided, recovery still cannotexceed 30% loss of the hand.Required Useof AMA GuidelinesAn additional change to the Actwhich directly affects the injuredworker is the required use of theAmerican Medical Association’s(AMA) guide for the Evaluation ofPermanent Impairment, also known asthe AMA guidelines. Thearbitrator at the IndustrialCommission must use theguidelines when awardingan injured worker permanentpartial disabilitybenefits. The impact of theuse of AMA guidelines onarbitrator’s awards is notcurrently clear. However,in states that use the AMAGuidelines, the impacthas been awards far belowthose in Illinois compensation cases.Addition of a NewEmployer DefensePreviously, workers’ compensationcould be denied where the employeewas so intoxicated that, as a matterof law, the injury arose out of theemployee’s drunken condition and nothis employment. The Act now specificallyexpands the intoxication defense,by stating that an injured worker willnot be entitled to compensation ifthe proximate cause of the accidentof the injury was due to intoxication.Additionally, there will be a rebuttablepresumption if the employee wasintoxicated, that the intoxication wasthe proximate cause of the injury. If anemployee does not submit to testing ofblood, breath or urine at the time of theaccident, that also raises a rebuttablepresumption that the employee wasintoxicated, and that such intoxicationwas the legal cause of the employee’sinjury.The Burden ofProving CausationRemains the SameWhile many changes in the Actlimit the rights of the injured worker,one hard fought issue remained thesame. Illinois law requires an employeeseeking recovery to prove thatthe accident “arose out of ” and “inthe course of ” employment. The businesscommunity had sought a changein the standard, so that the injuredworker would have to prove that theaccident was a “significant factor” orthe “primary cause” of the injury. Thisspecifically targeted repetitive traumainjuries where an injured worker hadbeen working in a factory or a buildingsite for many years repeatedly doingcertain activities and their body wearswithout any specific trauma. Therewas no change on what is required tobe proved.ConclusionThe Act has made significant changesto the Workers’ Compensation Actand to worker benefits. Next monthwe will focus on additional changesand their impact to both the employerand employee.Ireland Network Chicago MembersForum for Business & Service ProvidersBy Imelda Gallagher – IN Committee MemberIn a recently published IAN article,members of the Ireland Network Chicago(IN) were delighted to introduceour group and ourselves to IAN readers.IN is a business andsocial network of Irishpeople living and workingin the Chicagolandarea. We mentioned thatthe IN acts as “a readilyaccessible and relevant forum for thesharing of individual resources, expertise,industry knowledge, businessopportunities, contacts, connections;to share individual experiences, successesand challenges for the benefitof the membership at large; and tosupport newly-arrived Irish in theirefforts to connect with the greaterChicago business and social community.”The IN wishes to promotebusiness relationships within a socialsetting to be mutual beneficial for ourmembers and also enjoyable!IN is proceeding with our commitmentto these objectives by announcingour first Members’ Forumfor Business Owners and ServiceProviders. The Forum will take placeon Friday, October 7, 2011 from6-9pm at The Gage, 24 S. MichiganAve. The Forum will provide businessowners with the opportunity to showcasetheir businesses at this event.Each business can reserve a spaceat the Forum to promote and markettheir business in a social setting of“business network-minded” peoplewhere business owners can speak toIN members and attendees while theyare circulating socially at this event.The Members’ Forum will replace theusual IN First Friday informal socialevent for October, but will retain thesocial element. We are delighted withthe high participation at these FirstFriday events and anticipate that itwill be a great opportunity for businessowners and participants to learnabout the businesses and servicesavailable within the community. Allare welcome!The Forum showcasespaces for business ownersand service providersare $150 and are available to SubscribedMembers only. It is a greatopportunity to learn more aboutthe industries, services and marketsrepresented within the INmembership. Currentlythe companies alreadysigned up are: AmericanInternational Realty, ArtaneConstruction, BIKAccountants, Concord Group, ConlonReal Estate, Conor Cunneen, IrishAmerican Heritage Center, McEnteeLaw, Perl Mortgage and SoluisceSolutions. There are more spacesavailable!One of the Forum participants,Greg Lloyd, President of SoluisceSolutions Inc. said that “the IrelandNetwork is always open to ideas andsuggestions about how to further supportand encourage business developmentand awareness. The Network isproactive, energy is always high andthe people are great to work with.” Wehope that other Forum participantswill have similar positive experienceswith the IN through this Forum.All are welcome to attend thisMembers’ Forum and admissionis free for attendees. There will beappetizers served courtesy of TheGage and there will be an open baravailable for Subscribed Membersuntil 8pm courtesy of IN (cash bar fornon-members). New members maysubscribe at any IN event for $50 perannum which will provide access tothe IN Chicago website. Also comingsoon, there will be access to theIN-USA website to connect with ourmembers nationwide.For more information about howto sign up for the Members’ Forum,please contact: Ken Dooley 312-305-4919; Rachel McCormac 773-316-9400 or Deborah Ryder 312-342-7150. You may also visit our website:www.theirelandnetwork.com.We look forward to seeing youat the Members’ Forum on Friday,October 7, 2011 at 6pm!