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Chicago Personal Injury Attorney
Attorney representation in Chicago, Illinois Since 1985
Worker's Compensation
Work Incentives for Supplemental Security Income Beneficiaries
The Social Security Administration's work incentives program was instituted to help disabled individuals take advantage of employment opportunities and thereby gain a measure of independence. Special rules were designed to reduce the risk that a disabled or blind Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiary who chose to work would lose their SSI or Medicaid benefits.More...
Avoiding the Employment Relationship
In order to avoid the effects of the workers' compensation system, some employers will deliberately categorize a person as an individual contractor instead of an employee. Some individuals may even categorize themselves as individual contractors, preferring to reject the compensation system. Whether this categorization is successful, however, turns not just on the name given to the employment relationship. Rather, each relationship is examined on its own facts and will be decided based on the conduct exhibited between the parties as well as the work contract entered into between them. More...
Loss of Hearing as an Occupational Disease
Occupational hearing loss is a prevalent condition in workers employed in noisy environments such as factories and repair shops. Several states recognize the gradual loss of hearing as a compensable condition and such recognition has also taken place under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act. Generally, a six-month waiting period is required prior to the filing of a hearing loss claim and the employee must be removed from the noisy environment for that time frame. The degree of impairment is generally based on speech frequencies with points ranging between total deafness and no compensable deafness. The improvement in hearing with the use of a hearing aid is not accounted for. More...
Pre-Employment Injuries
Generally, compensation will be denied for injuries incurred prior to an employee being actually hired. However, courts have tended to reject form over substance and allowed compensation when the employee was hired though he had not finished the full hiring process such as completing the employer's business paperwork like payroll and tax forms. Compensation turns on whether a contract of hire has been entered into between the employer and potential employee -- an express or implied contract will suffice. More...
On-Call Employees
Professions that may require employees to reside on the premises and be "on-call" include servants, security guards, private nurses, nannies, and the like. Continuously on-call employees who reside on their work premises are generally covered under the "course of employment" principle should they be injured. If the employee is not always on-call but, rather, has only specified hours in which he is on-call, he will only be allowed compensation if the injury was due to his living conditions as a by-product of the employer's requirement that he remain on the premises. More...
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