8-26-2019; IL Governor JB Pritzker Continues "John Hancocking" New Laws at Record Pace--Brad Smith Wants to Keep You Ahead of Him; Kevin Boyle on New IN WC EDI Lump Sum Payment Rules and more

Synopsis: IL Governor JB Pritzker Continues “John Hancocking” New Laws at Record Pace—KCB&A’s Top Employment Lawyer, Brad Smith Wants To Keep You Ahead of Him and Them!

Editor’s comment: As Summer begins its descent into Autumn, new IL laws keep on, keepin’ on. Recently, Governor Pritzker signed sweeping changes to the Illinois legal landscape. Some of these laws directly affect Illinois employers, HR folks and risk managers, so pay close attention. Most of them do not take effect immediately, but they’ll be here shortly.

Work Place Transparency Act

One of those laws is the Illinois Workplace Transparency Act (WTA). That Act expansively provides key changes to other laws including:

• the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA);

• the Victims Economic Security and Safety Act (VESSA);

• the Illinois Equal Pay Act; and

• the Hotel Casino Employee Safety Act.

The Governor signed this legislation on August 9, 2019. It provides far reaching alterations to the employment law landscape in Illinois. You can access this Act (Public Act 101-0221) at http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/101/101-0221.htm.

The WTA creates sweeping changes. It limits employers’ abilities in restricting certain employee rights about allegations of unlawful conduct. This new law also changes the IHRA and the VESSA. Its effective date is January 1, 2020. Some of the new laws are effective more immediately (e.g., the Illinois Equal Pay Act amendments are effective September 29, 2019).

What does the WTA do?

• Prohibits employers from preventing employees or prospective employees from making truthful statements or disclosures about alleged unlawful employment practices or criminal activity.

• Prohibits employers from requiring employees to waive, arbitrate, or diminish an existing or future claim related to an unlawful employment practice.

• Allows employers and employees to bargain for certain waivers if the agreement is in writing and contains various disclaimers.

• Gene Keefe, your editor, notes this new Act may change the requisite language and terms of IL WC Release/Resignations—the defense team at KCB&A is mulling whether that is accurate and you can expect our best thoughts/forms soon.

• Prohibits unilateral confidentiality agreements in settlement or termination agreements but does not prohibits mutual confidentiality if there are certain covenants. For example:

  • If confidentiality is the documented preference and mutually beneficial to both parties;

  • The employee is notified of his or her right to have an attorney review the agreement;

  • The employee is given 21 days to consider the agreement and 7 days to revoke a signed agreement;

  • The waiver is knowing and voluntary;

  • There is valid, bargained-for consideration in exchange for the confidentiality; and

  • The agreement does not require the employee to waive claims of unlawful employment practices that accrue after the date of execution of the settlement or termination agreement.

While not within the WTA, the definition of an employer under the IHRA was recently altered by PA 101-0221. This law would expand the definition of an employer to include any entity that employs one or more persons (currently this is 15 employees for most protected categories). The effective date for this law is July 1, 2020. This amendment widens the reach of the IHRA. Now all small employers are subject to its provisions. In the past, employers with less than 15 employees could avoid liability under the IHRA if the allegations were not based on a couple of the protected categories. 

The amendments also alter the definition of unlawful discrimination as it relates to “actual or perceived” discrimination. Simply put, “perceived” discrimination now would apply to all protected categories under the IHRA. Previously, this only applied to disability and sexual orientation categories. “Perceived” discrimination allows folks to be included in protected categories merely due to the employer’s perception that it is included in that category.

Similarly, the amendments alter the definition of “harassment.” It is now defined as “unwelcome conduct” on the basis of a person’s “actual or perceived” inclusion in all listed protected categories under the IHRA. These two amendments mean that individual employees that are not in a protected category can still sue under that category if there is a perception that the employee meets the protected category. I believe this will cause employees suing their employer to fabricate allegations that their employer perceived them as meeting a protected category under the IHRA.

The new law amends the IHRA to prohibit harassment by an employer against non-employees, including contractors, consultants, and anyone else directly performing services for the employer pursuant to a contract with that employer. Does this now mean that a homeowner employing a nanny, cleaning person, or lawn mowing service can be liable under the IHRA? It really depends on your interpretation of the definition “employer” under the IHRA’s new amendments.

The new law also requires that employer disclose on an annual basis (every July 1st) to the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) any adverse judgment or administrative ruling against them in the preceding calendar year. The employer may be required to disclose information on settlements of any sexual harassment or unlawful discrimination claims, but only if the IDHR has an open charge pending under the IHRA and requests that the employer disclose this information. This law will require the traditional confidentiality provisions used in employer severance agreements to be altered.

Importantly, too, the new law requires that every employer “with employees working in” Illinois provide sexual harassment prevention training on an annual basis. KCBA has qualified developed sexual harassment training policies in this area. Please contact us for further information if you need onsite training for your employees.

The new laws also designates additional sexual harassment prevention requirements on a particular segment of employers: restaurants and bars. Those types of employers are now required to provide a written sexual harassment policy to all employees within the first calendar week of beginning employment.

Hotel and Casino Employee Safety Act

The Hotel and Casino Employee Safety Act requires hotels and casinos to equip employees who work alone in guest rooms, restrooms, or casino floors, with a safety or notification device that will summon help if the employee reasonably believes that an ongoing crime, sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other emergency is occurring in the employee’s presence. This law also has embedded requirements to have a written anti-sexual harassment policy.

Victims Economic Security and Safety Act

The new VESSA amendments now include “gender violence,” in addition to the other existing categories.

Illinois Equal Pay Act

The new pertinent changes to the Illinois Equal Pay Act (Public Act 101-0177) are as follows:

• Employers and employment agencies are prohibited from requesting or requiring applicants to disclose prior wage, salary, benefit or other compensation history as a condition of an application process or of employment.

• Employers cannot refuse to hire folks or fire them for that employee refusing to comply with any wage or salary history inquiry.

• You can still ask your employees their expectations with respect to wages and benefits.

• Employers may not prohibit employees from discussing their wages, salary, benefits, or other compensation with others. However, employers may still prohibit human resources employees, supervisors, and other employees who have access to wage or salary information from disclosing that information without the written consent of the employee whose information is sought or requested.

• IEPA loosens the comparator consideration to “substantially similar,” as opposed to “equal” skill, effort, and responsibility.

• Damages now include actual damages incurred, special damages up to $10,000.00, injunctive relief as may be appropriate, possibly punitive and compensatory damages, and costs and reasonably attorneys’ fees.

These new amendments are interesting as they create new categories of violations for employers requesting information that was routinely requested and used as a defense in the past. Now employers can no longer count on certain defense arguments regarding prior salary amounts for incoming employees as the discrepancy between differing pay for individuals.

Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Law

Governor Pritzker also recently signed HB 2557, which creates the Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act. This new law will go into effect on January 1, 2020. And it requires regulation of employers use of artificial intelligence video interviews. The new law provides as follows:

• An employer that asks applicants to record video interviews and uses an artificial intelligence analysis of applicant-submitted videos shall notify each applicant before the interview that artificial intelligence may be used.

• An employer may not use artificial intelligence to evaluate applicants who have not consented to the use of artificial intelligence analysis.

• An employer may not share applicant videos, except with persons whose expertise is necessary in order to evaluate an applicant’s fitness for a position.

• Applicants have the rights to be forgotten and all the data deleted within 30 days.

There are no private rights of action under this law.

Personal Information Protection Act

Governor Pritzker also signed SB 1624. This law makes modifications to the already existing data breach notification law, otherwise known as the Personal Information Protection Act or PIPA. This law will go into effect on January 1, 2020.

All of these new laws require employers and other businesses to adjust their current practices. These adjustments might be miniscule, but most are rather intrusive into how businesses operate alongside their employees. These changes should be instituted by businesses. And the professionals at KCBA are happy to help with any requests to review and alter any employment restrictive covenants, contracts, and severance agreements. Additionally, the necessary training under the new laws is within KCBA’s wheelhouse, so if any businesses need that implemented, then please reach out to a KCBA professional for more information. Any further questions on the new law can also be directed to KCBA.

This article was researched and written by Bradley J. Smith, JD. You can reach Brad for questions about general liability, motor vehicle insurance defense, employment law, and insurance coverage at bsmith@keefe-law.com

Synopsis: In Indiana Worker’s Comp, Be Sure to Remember to EDI Lump Sum Payment Information within 30 days When Paying Claimants for Section 15 settlements. Research and writing by Kevin Boyle, J.D.

Editor’s comment: As you may have experienced, the EDI changes installed in IN WC this year have given some insurers/employers headaches and tested their IT systems’ ability to comply with the new rules. Hopefully, you have been able to keep up with the new system.

As part of the changes, the Indiana Worker’s Compensation Board recently reminded users that insurers/employers need to EDI proof of payment on settlement agreements to show payment of any settlement was made within 30 days of the Approval.

Last year, the statute added the 30 day deadline for payments of full and final agreements (“Section 15s”). So in addition to paying settlements within 30 days of the Approval, please also remember that you must provide the payment information through EDI, too.

Some of the new software systems/vendors that have been installed to comply with the new EDI system have protocol that automatically generate those EDI payment transmission to take care of the new requirement.

But if you don’t have that, now is a good time to either upgrade your system or manually make sure it’s done. Don’t get caught short with needed documentation.

If you need any help on this, please contact me: kboyle@keefe-law.com.

8-20-2019; In an IL WC Claim, Does An Adjuster Have To Turn Over All or Some of Your File?; Do U.S. Employers Have to Allow "Work-From-Home" As An Accommodation Request and more

Synopsis: Petitioner’s/Plaintiff Counsel in an IL WC Claim I Am Adjusting Wants My File—Do I Have To Give It To Them?

Editor’s comment: We had a great client who is a claims adjuster receive an opening “hello” email from the other side’s attorney. The attorney nicely asked for all sorts of stuff in the file, including incident/accident reports, witness statements and wage documents. The adjuster inquired as to whether to respond and provide all that documentation.

My response was simple—you can produce/share whatever you want. You don’t have to because there is limited “discovery” in IL workers comp. I am not saying there is no discovery but the rules make it limited.

I do feel an adjuster also might have an ethical issue to divulge information/documentation to the other side that you don’t have to disclose—you might be later criticized or worse if a claim dramatically increases in value when you truly don’t have to volunteer file information. I am not saying to lie or intentionally hide anything. I am saying you need to insure you and your account are on the same page about claims strategy. And in a claim where you don’t have defense counsel assigned, it is crucial to contact readily-available defense attorneys like the great team at KCB&A to get complimentary legal advice on any pre-hearing disclosure to protect your back, if you understand what I mean.

Please also remember whatever you voluntarily turn over to a solid Petitioner’s lawyer can and may be used “against you” or your account in any later hearing. It is also very hard to “rebut” or possibly even clarify anything that might be viewed as contrary to your defense position, particularly in a State as liberal as Illinois can be.

Please remember Illinois is a “trial-by-ambush” state for WC, as we don’t get to depose the other side’s witnesses and can sometimes be surprised at who shows up and what they say—you need veteran defense counsels who are nimble at cross-exam to make sense of such a system.

In the claim mentioned above, my recommendation/suggestion to the client was to contemplate the strengths and weaknesses of that claim and consider sharing/exchanging information with OC to try to get a rapid outcome/closure. I am sure she used great common sense and did what was best.

Happy to discuss such issues at any time—I don’t bill for such advice unless you assign the file.

I appreciate your thoughts and comments. Please post them on our award-winning blog.

Synopsis: Does a U.S. Employer Have to Provide “Work-From-Home” as an Accommodation Request?

Editor’s comment: In the federal ruling in Yochim v. Carson, the concept of leave and accommodation requests clearly create difficult issues for U.S. employers. A challenge that arises when it comes to accommodation requests is there is no easy or clear test to determine whether a requested accommodation is reasonable, because the essential functions of one job can be quite different from the essential functions of another. In my view, there is no panacea when it comes to a “reasonable accommodation.”

Please also remember such accommodation requests might bleed over to the work comp side—if this concept became popular, workers like Ms. Yochim with work-related carpal tunnel syndrome might be able to demand weeks and maybe months of “work-at-home” while recovering. U.S. employers don’t want to have thousands of workers staying at home and out of sight where it will be harder to manage your workforce and risk rises.

In this recent case, Claimant Yochim worked as a lawyer for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). At the Federal District Court level, she claimed the agency failed to reasonably accommodate her request to work from home full time after undergoing surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome. Please note CTS and a carpal tunnel repair is not a particularly unusual condition. What is unusual was Claimant Yochim asked to work from home so that she could engage in ongoing physical therapy as part of her recovery. After losing in the Federal District Court, she appealed her case to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

It seemed clear Claimant Yochim worked at HUD since 1989, most recently serving as a senior lawyer at the agency. Prior to CTS surgery, she had already been working from home two days per week consistent with the agency’s telecommuting policy (which allowed up to three days per week).

You may note the HUD general counsel’s office where she worked was restructured before her surgery to encourage employees to be in the office more often, in order to cross-train with other employees and to become more knowledgeable in other areas of law the department needed to address.

After routine CTS surgery and what she claimed was a difficult recovery, Yochim asked to work from home full time and all the time for several months. That request was rejected by the agency, but she was offered other accommodations that would have required her to be in the office at least part of the work week.

For example, she was offered the opportunity to work four 10-hour days, which would have included working some of that time from home and the opportunity to commute to the office outside of the rush-hour period. Another agency proposal was for her to work from home for three days per week. There appears not to have been any allegation that the agency did not participate in the interactive process that is required once an employee requests an accommodation.

Each of the agency’s proposed accommodations was rejected by Claimant Yochim, who then used up her remaining sick leave and retired early.

The leading issue U.S. employers and the courts struggle with is whether working from home is a reasonable accommodation at all based on the employee’s duties and responsibilities. Here, though, the employee was already allowed to work from home two days per week (and the agency offered three days), with the employee asking for an accommodation to work from home five days per week for several months.

Therefore, the court had to determine whether working from home for more than the permitted three days per week is unreasonable. Another issue is the employee’s department had only recently restructured its work-from-home policy to expect employees to be in the office more frequently. It will be instructive to see how the court considers what amount of attendance is an essential function of the HUD attorney’s job, whether allowing an employee to work from home up to three days a week undercuts the argument that attendance is essential, and whether working from home for five days per week instead of three creates an undue hardship on the employer and others in the workplace.

I appreciate your thoughts and comments. Please post them on our award-winning blog.

8-13-2019; The Six Ways to Close an Illinois (and many States) Workers’ Compensation Claim; Adieu, Former Arb. Brian Cronin and more

Synopsis: The Six Ways to Close an Illinois (and many State and Federal) Workers’ Compensation Claims.

Editor’s comment: We keep having clients ask so we wanted to provide our expert legal guidance on this important topic for all sides of the matrix. When the defense team at KCB&A speak at local, regional and national conferences, we are routinely advised the cool thing about IL WC is a claims handler or risk manager can actually “close” files if you do things correctly. In our neighboring states, many systems don’t allow for “complete” closure and little annoying things can happen to cause claims to re-open. As much as our readers and other observers have issues with the IL WC system, they do like the sense of closure provided in our difficult WC claims.

To our understanding, there are six paths by which an IL WC claim closes:

1.    Lack of statutory 45-day Notice;

2.    Running of the statute of limitations in Section 6(c) of the IL WC Act;

3.    Voluntary dismissal of the claim by Claimant and counsel, if applicable;

4.    Dismissal of a claim for want of prosecution;

5.    Settlement;

6.    Final decision of the Arbitrator, Commissioner or reviewing court.

If any of our readers know of another path to close an IL WC claim, send your best thoughts and we will forward a free KCB&A rate sheet.

Let’s take a closer look at the six paths for closing IL WC claims—Number one is lack of statutory notice of injury/exposure. If someone is injured and they know they are injured at work, they have 45 days for their employer to learn of the accident/exposure. Please note the employee doesn’t have to actively provide notice of accident/exposure, all they have to demonstrate is the employer learned of the accident by any means. If statutory notice becomes an issue, the employer is supposed to be able to demonstrate they are “unduly prejudiced” in such proceedings by such defect or inaccuracy in the notice of accident/exposure. To us, the easiest way to demonstrate undue prejudice is to claim your accident investigation protocols were blocked due to the failure of the employee to notify you and/or for you to learn of the accident/exposure in any other way.

In a more realistic sense, to the defense team at KCB&A, your better shot at defeating/blocking a claim due to lack of statutory notice is to treat it from a common sense perspective—if the employee was seriously/moderately injured at your workplace, how is it that you and your supervisors never learned of it? We feel most Arbitrators will ask the same question—if you broke your arm working for your employer but were regularly at or around work and in the continuing company of your supervisors and other co-workers, how come no one ever knew anything about your medical issues for more than six weeks?

In short, lack of statutory notice should close a claim but that doesn’t mean you aren’t going to have to fight to prove a lack of statutory compliance so it might be a challenge to truly call that “closing” a claim, as much as it is a valid defense.

Number two, the IL WC statute of limitations is also a gauntlet a defense lawyer might choose to run. The IL WC Act requires the Application be filed three years from the date of the accident/exposure. The statute of limitations can be extended or “resurrected” for two additional years, if there is the payment of any WC medical, lost time, permanency or death benefits. This extension or new period for the statute to run can include a medical bill for a work-related injury being paid by the employer’s group health carrier. As the last “twist” on the IL WC statute of limitations, you have to be aware of the IL Supreme Court’s “activist” ruling in Durand v. IWCC where the Court wouldn’t dismiss a claim based upon repetitive trauma where the worker alleged she “worked in pain” for four years prior to filing the Application. In our view, this controversial decision eviscerates the SOL because any and every worker who misses the deadline can simply claim to be “working in pain” to keep the statute open for a new claim. In our view, this legal concept might be more challenging if the delay in filing the Application was five to ten years or more.

Number three, voluntary dismissal of a claim by claimant is easy. This form needs to be completed by Claimant and their attorney, if applicable. If you want the link to the form, sent a reply.

Once they have signed the form and filed it with the IWCC, the Arbitrator assigned should receive, review and sign the form. When that happens, you need to make the call on just closing your file or waiting for the running of the statute of limitations. Please remember a claim that has been voluntarily dismissed is done without prejudice—they can re-file any time during the SOL.

Number four, the dismissal of a claim for want of prosecution or DWP is a common and generally easy concept to understand. Illinois claims are set on a calendar for each assigned Arbitrator. The calendars can be reviewed on the great website for the IWCC. Each claim will trundle along and trundle along until they reach about two-and-one-half years. After that point, someone has to show up before the Arbitrator to ask for claims to be continued and the defense has to agree or at least, not fight continuances. If they don’t, the decision to DWP the claim is up to the Arbitrator. Sometimes they are tough, sometimes they wait and are tough later.

You can’t always blame your defense lawyer for cases getting endlessly continued but we do recommend you advise your defense lawyer in writing when/if they no longer have your authority to agree to continue claims. We have seen claims continued to the fourth, fifth and more years because defense counsel never puts their foot down to demand a hearing or otherwise demand trial or dismissal of old, moldy claims.

When a case gets dismissed, the IWCC is supposed to snail-mail notices of DWP to the parties or counsel for the parties. The notice indicates there is 60-days to file a Petition to Reinstate the claim. If the Petition to Reinstate is timely filed, it is possible it can sit for weeks, months and years—it is incumbent on defense counsel to demand the Petition be timely adjudicated so the matter is reinstated and then settled/tried. Please also note some defense attorneys “roll over” to allow claims to be reinstated—the team at KCB&A always asks our clients what they want first. Many Arbitrators will allow reinstatement and set the matter on a date certain—if the hearing is held, the matter remains reinstated. If the hearing doesn’t occur, the claim may be again dismissed.

Number five, an approved settlement ends IL WC claims. Please note the IWCC settlement process requires Arbitrator involvement—there clearly were concerns in the olden days that injured workers were being taken advantage of so a state official has to approve the deal to insure there is no funny business. We tell our readers, you can like the IL WC contract settlement approval process or hate it but we are sure it isn’t going to change soon.

For some of our clients, this is a new challenge because they want to close everything a year ago. Some clients now want to provide settlement authority to see their toughest claims close in a day or so—that isn’t slightly possible. We want all Illinois risk and claims managers to understand the IL WC settlement process usually takes about a month. To settle a claim and close a defense file, we have to:

Reach a complete settlement of all issues

• Draft settlement contracts that cover all issues and completely protect you—the defense team at KCB&A can do this part of the process on a same-day, real-time basis;

• Send the contracts to the adjuster and/or employer for their review, saving-to-file and approval—again, it is sent asap;

• Then with client approval from you, we sign and send to opposing counsel via email;

• Opposing counsel will print, sign and then contact Claimant for their discussion and signature—this is of unknown duration but many times, Claimants will come to OC’s office to sign to speed things up;

• Then opposing counsel will typically snail mail or bring the contracts to the Arbitrator assigned with an SASE;

• Then the Arbitrator gets to the contracts in the normal course of business.

• We assure our clients all IL WC Arbitrators are diligent and professional—it is not a good idea to tell or demand an Arbitrator to put your contracts at the front of the line because they call them as they receive them;

Thereafter the Arbitrators

• Reject them for technical problems of whatever sort or

• Snail mail them back to Claimant’s counsel who then email them to us to forward to you.

When we get the contracts back and Arbitrator approved, we immediately route them to our clients for payment. We can’t close our files the minute we send the approved contracts to you because we need to know you or your adjuster has paid them to insure you aren’t going to be the subject of either a penalty petition or an 19G Petition for a judgment against your account, the Respondent.

If you have any idea how to make IL WC settlements faster, please let us know. Yes, we wish the draft signed contracts could be emailed to and from the Arbitrators—that can’t happen yet.

Finally, Number six, the last of the six ways to close an IL WC claim is via a final decision by an Arbitrator, Commission panel or reviewing court. This means the Arbitrator heard the claim and filed the decision, the parties receive it and no one files an administrative appeal, called a Petition for Review within thirty days. If the Commission reaches a decision, the parties only have twenty days to perfect an appeal to the Circuit Court with lots of little details to be completed very, very rapidly—if you need the many nuances, send a reply. After a Circuit Court judge files an appeal, the parties then have thirty days to appeal to the Appellate Court, Workers’ Compensation Division. If that body decides a claim and you want to appeal to the IL Supreme Court, send a reply and we can explain the many rules that come with that test.

We appreciate your thoughts and comments. Otherwise, feel free to post your thoughts and ideas on our award-winning website.

Synopsis: Retirement of former Arbitrator Brian Cronin.

Editor’s comment: I was advised Arbitrator Cronin retired and moved on to the wonderful world of Illinois hilarious fake gov’t pension programs. He will shortly make more, lots more, as a retiree than he made while working—don’t blame him, that is what this nutty State does for retirees at an hilarious cost to taxpayers—he will double and triple and quadruple his “pay.”

I didn’t always agree with Arbitrator Cronin but I always felt he was generally a reasonable and fair administrator. I wish him the best in all future endeavors.

Synopsis: AUGUST IN IL—BENEFIT RATES RISE WITH THE HUMIDITY??—UPDATED RATE SHEETS AVAILABLE SOON FOR ILLINOIS WC RATE INCREASE!!! 

Editor’s comment: Illinois WC Rates Have Updated Again So Please Be Aware Of The New Rates or Your Claims Handling Will Suffer and Penalties May Ensue.

Email Marissa at mpatel@keefe-law.com to Get a Free and Complimentary Email or Hard Copy of Shawn R. Biery’s Updated IL WC Rate-Sheet! You can also send any questions to Shawn at sbiery@keefe-law.com

We note that the recent legislation to increase the statewide minimum wage eventually to $15/hr will lead to the continued rate increase in every cycle, so continue to watch the growth of IL WC rates. As we have mentioned in the past, since in the 1980’s, the IL WC Act provides a formula which effectively insures no matter how poor the IL economy is doing, WC rates continue to climb.

We caution our readers to pay attention to the fact the IL WC statutory maximum PPD rate is $813.87. However, this rate is only going to be valid through June 30, 2019 and the new max PPD will be published in January 2020. When it will be published in January 2020, this rate will change retroactively from July 1, 2019 forward. At that time, if you don’t make the change, your reserves will be incorrect--if this isn’t clear, send a reply.

The current TTD weekly maximum has risen to $1,529.84. A worker has to make over $2,294.76 per week or $119,327.52 per year to hit the new IL WC maximum TTD rate.

For WC Death Benefits: The new IL WC minimum is creeping closer to the $750k floor. That amount is now 25 years of compensation or $573.69 per week x 52 weeks in a year x 25 years or $745,797.00! The new maximum IL WC death benefit is $1,529.84 times 52 weeks times 25 years or a lofty $1,988,792.00 plus burial benefits of $8K. IL WC death benefits also come with annual COLA increases which we feel can potentially makes Illinois the highest in the U.S. for WC death claims.

The best way to make sense of all of this is to get Shawn Biery’s colorful, updated and easy-to-understand IL WC Rate Sheet.  —If you want just one or a dozen or more, simply send a reply to Marissa at mpatel@keefe-law.com  AND you can also send any questions to Shawn at sbiery@keefe-law.com They will get a copy routed to you once we get laminated copies back from the printer—hopefully before they raise the rates again! Please confirm your mailing address if you would like laminated copies sent to your home or office!