For the past several weeks, I have received a handful of calls from employees hurt on the job.  The problem that has me increasingly disgusted is that they are being flat-out lied to by their employers.  Under the Illinois Workers' Compensation laws, employees have the right to go to their own doctor and the insurance company has to pay.  In fact, they actually get the choice of two separate doctors under the law.  However, in all the calls I have received in the past few weeks, the employees have been treating with the employer's doctor because they were specifically told that they had to if they wanted the work comp insurance to pay.  This goes beyond merely misinforming the injured employees.  This is flat out lying to them.  All Illinois employers are required by law to be familiar with the work comp laws and to accurately advise their employees.  Obviously, this is not happening. 

As an attorney who specializes in injury and workers' compensation cases, it is clear to me why this is being done.  The doctors that the employees are being sent to are kept on a pretty tight leash by the work comp insurance companies.  In fact, the insurance companies basically control the care.  More importantly, at the end of every Illinois work comp case, the injured employees are entitled to a lump sum disability settlement.  However, this amount is often based on the type of treatment, and the amount of treatment.  What I often see is that when treatment is restricted to the doctor chosen by the insurance company, the employee gets less treatment that what the otherwise should.  Not only does this affect their health, but it also affects the final payout.  In these cases, we are immediately getting the clients to more objective doctors of their choosing.  This seems to be a big problem in Illinois work comp cases and all employees need to know their right to choose their own doctor.

If you are injured at work and are looking for an Illinois Workers' Compensation attorney, feel free to contact Josh Myers.  It is always free to discuss a potential case, and there is never an hourly fee.