Workers’ comp claims in Illinois do not have to involve work accidents. Any work injury can result in compensation if you prove it happened on the job.
It could include injuries from repetitive motion that you perform on the job.
Thus, factory workers and construction laborers can receive workers’ compensation when injured while working, and office workers may also be eligible for it.
The Causes of Repetitive Motion Injuries
You may be called on to perform the same duty many times a day at work. For example, you may work at a store and need to lift boxes daily. You could work at a factory and take things off a conveyor belt all day.
Alternatively, you might work in an office and need to use the keyboard and type daily, hurting your wrist. Even something as simple as using a computer mouse has the potential to cause you long-term injury.
When you repeatedly put stress on the same part of your body through overuse, it can cause injury. Specifically, the problem happens when you overuse the muscles in your upper body.
It can include your back, shoulders, or even your wrists. It can be a temporary disability or even a permanent disability.
What Are Repetitive Motion Back, Wrist, Knee, Ankle, and Neck Injuries?
Here are four examples of repetitive motion injuries that can impact Illinois workers experiencing work-related injuries:
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome – When the median nerve of your arm is pressured as it runs through your wrist, it can cause numbness and swelling that can restrict the use of your hands. This can be one of the most debilitating types of injuries.
- Bursitis is when the fluid sacs that protect your joints become inflamed. Specifically, you will most likely get bursitis in your shoulders, knees, and elbows. It can also occur in other body parts.
- Back Strains – Those who stand on their feet all day or have to move heavy weights are more likely to suffer a back injury. Many of these injuries can require surgery or otherwise cause an employee to miss significant time from work.
- Tendonitis happens from overuse of the tendon during activity, leading to neck, back, or ankle injuries. The tendon will become sore and inflamed. While back injuries are the most common, tendonitis can affect nearly any body area.
These are just a handful of examples of repetitive stress injuries. Any type of illness or injury that can be tied to what you do at work daily should be sufficient to qualify you for workers’ compensation benefits.
These can result in significant medical expenses and other costs to you.
The Legal Basis for a Repetitive Motion Injury Workers’ Compensation Claim
Illinois Workers Compensation law is found at 820 ILCS 35. This is the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act. The law covers all injuries caused by the employee’s job duties and even provides coverage when a pre-existing condition is aggravated.
However, the IWCA does attach some strings to the benefits. Of importance here is that the injured worker can prove that their job caused their injury. It is an easy showing to make when there is a workplace accident.
When dealing with a repetitive motion injury, causation will be more of a challenge to prove.
What to Do When You Suspect that You Have a Repetitive Motion Injury
There are three primary things that you need to do if you think that you have a repetitive motion injury. Each of these three steps is vital to receiving workers’ compensation benefits.
Get Medical Attention
One of the prerequisites for getting money from workers’ compensation is that you have been injured on the job. Thus, the first thing that you need to establish is that you have been injured.
If you start to feel pain and suspect it is connected to your job duties, setting up a doctor’s appointment as soon as possible to be examined is vital.
Your doctor may diagnose your condition. It is vital to document the diagnosis because this is what you will need to present along with your claim for benefits. Without a documented injury, there will not be any workers’ compensation benefits.
Notify Your Employer of Repetitive Motion Injuries and Other Occupational Diseases
820 ILCS 305/6 contains a requirement for notifying the employer of the accident. Specifically, the law says that “notice of the accident shall be given to the employer as soon as practicable, but no later than 45 days after the accident.”
With a repetitive motion injury, no one accident causes it. Nonetheless, you will need to notify your employer of the injury. It would be best to consider the time you learned of the injury to start the clock on your notification requirement.
Your claim could be turned down if you do not give your employer the required notice. This may mean you will not receive payment for lost work, medical bills, and the vocational rehabilitation you need to return to work.
Hire a Workers’ Compensation Lawyer to Help Get Payment for Your Workplace Injury
Many companies will fight workers’ compensation claims because it will raise their business costs, specifically in higher costs for their workers’ compensation insurance. They may be even more inclined to oppose your request for your workers’ comp claim for a repetitive motion injury.
Your employer has the right to participate in the process and can try to stop you from getting benefits even though they do not have the final say.
This is why you need an attorney to represent you throughout the process when you have a work-related injury. The workers’ compensation attorney would help you assemble your claim, including the necessary documentation.
Repetitive motion injury claims are not as easy to win as workplace accident claims. Still, there is certainly a possibility that you can win if you can show that your job duties were the cause of your injury.
You can expect that your employer will fight you when you try to claim these disability benefits, so you must be prepared for this contingency in your comp case.
What is helpful about these benefits is that they will not only pay you for the time you missed from work, but workers’ compensation will also pay for the rehabilitation you need to return to work.
Contact our workers’ comp claims attorneys for a free consultation to learn how Illinois law will view your workers’ compensation claim. We handle workers’ compensation cases as part of your attorney-client relationship.
