La Administración de Salud y Seguridad Ocupacional (“OSHA”) y el Departamento de Trabajo federal ampliaron recientemente las protecciones para los trabajadores indocumentados que denuncian malas condiciones de trabajo, lesiones en el lugar de trabajo, e infracciones reglamentarias. La Legislatura de Illinois también está considerando la “Ley de Trabajo sin Miedo,” que brinda más protecciones a los trabajadores indocumentados que presentan quejas laborales.

¿Qué derechos tienen los trabajadores cuando se lesionan en el trabajo?

• Todo trabajador ...

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the federal Department of Labor recently expanded protections for undocumented workers who whistleblow on working conditions, workplace injuries, and regulatory violations. The Illinois Legislature is also considering The Work Without Fear Act, which gives more protections to undocumented workers filing complaints. 

What rights do workers have when injured on the job?

• Every worker, regardless of their residency or citizenship status, has the right to work in a safe environment that does not cause illnesses or ...

On June 5, 2020, Governor Pritzker signed into law the COVID-19 Presumption Bill which stated that for purposes of the Illinois Workers Compensation Act or Occupational Disease Act, for front-line Workers and first responders who were exposed to and contracted COVID-19, there will be a rebuttable presumption that the exposure and contraction of the virus arose out of and was in the course of their employment, and that the disease was causally related to their employment – meaning it will be presumed that it was contracted at work, and no further proof will be necessary. This ...

Workplace injuries are commonplace in our country, regardless of industry or occupation. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, there were over 2.8 million workplace injuries reported in the United States in 2019. Included in that number are over 5,000 fatal injuries and over 850,000 nonfatal injuries that caused a worker to miss at least one day of work. The most common types of workplace injuries are overexertion, falls/slips/trips, contact with objects or machinery, workplace violence, and transportation accidents.

Workplace injuries can happen for a number of reasons ...

The Third Dist. IL Appellate court decision, Armstead v. National Freight, Inc. (2020 IL App (3d) 170777), may have significant ramifications for Workers’ Compensation (WC)practitioners (and Pro Se claimants) because the court held that Plaintiff’s personal injury (3rd party) claim was barred by collateral estoppel based on the description of the injuries in the Pennsylvania WC settlement contract.

Here, the Plaintiff agreed that his injury was a “right knee strain” and did not list all other claimed injuries that he may claim in the Personal Injury case. To my ...

I write to let you know about a positive development for many workers who have been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic and have contracted the virus. For many of those COVID-19 first responders and front-line workers, there is the real possibility that they could have been exposed to the virus in the course of their work, and now the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission has acknowledged that risk and will allow those workers to more easily obtain benefits under the IL Workers’ Compensation Act (the Act). It’s important to note that during this pandemic, the ...