It is against Illinois law to fire a worker because they have pursued workers’ compensation benefits. In fact there have been some cases where injured workers have been awarded millions of dollars because their employer blatantly fired them due to bringing a work comp case.
In my experience, when you have a work comp attorney, it makes the employer less likely to fire you. That is because they know you have legal representation and are often wary of you knowing your rights. That said, it does happen and often they will try to say it is for some other b.s. reason.
As a result, we do get calls from people who have been fired after getting injured on the job. My first question to them is always the same: Do you have have an Illinois workers’ compensation attorney?
If they tell me they do, this is my typical advice:
- Have you asked your attorney about how to handle this?
- If no, and you like them, you should ask them.
- If yes and they refused, then they are not doing a good job for you.
- If you don’t like them, why are you staying with them?
It is not the job of your work comp attorney to represent you if you got fired. That is not why you hired them. BUT …. it is their job, in my opinion, to refer you to someone who can help investigate if you have a wrongful termination case.
If a lawyer makes their career out of representing injured workers, this issue will come up. Part of delivering customer service is helping your client with anything that is closely related to the case. I would say the same thing if you think you have a medical malpractice or personal injury case that stems from your work injury.
In other words, they might not have to represent you if you were fired, but they absolutely should try and help you find an attorney who can help.
It’s also in your best interests for them to do this. They have information to share that can help your wrongful firing case. That is easier done if they have a relationship with the labor attorney. If they tell you they do not know any labor lawyers they are either lying and blowing you off or that is a screaming red flag.
So if you call us about this issue, we’ll tell you that if you have a lawyer you like, ask them. If you don’t like them or they won’t help, we can refer you to a new work comp attorney to take over the case. That attorney will then refer you to a labor lawyer if you hire them. But nobody will do one without the other.
Note that while the ideal situation would be that your lawyer helps you, it costs nothing to switch attorney and it is easy to do if there is not a settlement offer yet.
If you would like to discuss a wrongful termination after filing an Illinois workers’ comp case, please call to speak with a lawyer for free at 312-346-5320.
