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Workers' Compensation

An Update on Workers’ Compensation Fraud in Illinois The fraud provisions were codified in Section 25.5 of the Workers' Compensation Act. Paragraph (a) sets forth the acts deemed to be unlawful, and states as follows:  view more
The Independent Contractor Analysis In Illinois Trucking Cases Illinois cases involving truck drivers and deliverymen have provided fertile litigation ground over the employee/independent contractor distinction. In the trucker and deliverymen cases, the courts often analyze numerous factual issues which can often tip the consideration either way. While the cases are very fact-specific and somewhat unpredictable, they do give us some guidance as to what courts find important when making this key determination. It is important to note that these cases often (but not always) depend on whether the Commission found the claimant was an employee or independent contractor. This is because the applicable standard of review on appeal is the deferential "manifest weight of the evidence" standard. Therefore, the Commission's employee/independent contractor determination is usually reversed only if it was against the manifest weight of the evidence. view more
Utilization Review In Workers Compensation Cases: Use Or “Abuse Of Process” Disputes between a injured workers and their employer or insurer over the approval of and payment for medical treatment is not a new phenomenon. In Garvin v. Shewbart, 442 So.2d 80 (1983), an employee sued her employer and its carrier for bad faith and outrage arising out of their failure to pay for treatment she received as a result of an on-the-job injury. The Alabama Supreme Court, relying on an earlier decision in Waldon v. Hartford Insurance Group, 435 So.2d 1271 (Ala.1983), held that Garvin's bad faith refusal to pay was barred by the exclusivity provisions of Alabama's Workers Compensation Act. view more
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