Google review
“They came to the hospital the day after my husband's crash. When the adjuster called, we already had a lawyer.”
Workplace Injury Lawyers in Chicago, IL
Workers' compensation is the first claim, and when someone other than your employer helped cause the injury there may be a second.
Available 24/7. Free, confidential, no obligation. We come to the hospital or your home.
One injury, two claimsBoth can run at once
- 1Workers’ comp claim. No fault to prove. Paid by your employer’s insurer. Decided by the state’s Commission, not a court.
- 2Third-party lawsuit. Fault must be proved. Against a company other than your employer. Filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County.
As seen in
- Chicago Tribune
- Chicago Sun-Times
- WGN-TV
- ABC 7 Chicago
- NBC 5 Chicago
- FOX 32
- Crain’s Chicago Business
- Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
- RBH Law Office attorneys are selected to Illinois Super Lawyers by Thomson Reuters, 2016 to 2026.
- RBH Law Office is ranked Tier 1 in Chicago for Plaintiffs’ Personal Injury by Best Lawyers’ Best Law Firms, 2026.
- R. B. is peer-selected as a Leading Lawyer in Illinois by the Leading Lawyers Network.
- R. B. is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates.
- B. H. is a member of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum.
- RBH Law Office is a member of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.
- RBH Law Office is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell.
What our clients had to say
Every review here is a Google review from a client we represented. Across 500+ reviews, the rating is 4.9 out of 5.
- Google review
“I was 20% at fault according to the first report. RBH found the dashcam. The final number was eight figures.”
- Google review
“I never once had to chase them for an update. Every month, a call, in plain English.”
- Google review
“The hospital bills arrived before the police report did. RBH took every one of them and told me what each letter meant.”
- Google review
“My father was killed on I-80. They never pushed us to settle. When the offer was wrong, they went to trial.”
Also rated onGoogle4.9500+ reviewsAvvo10.0Superb ratingYelp4.8120+ reviewsBBBA+Accredited business
These reviews are from the firm's truck accident clients.
What to do in the first 48 hours.
Three clocks start the moment you are hurt. The first one is yours to use.
Three clocks start at onceNot to scale
- Your first step, 48 hours. Not a deadline. Get care. Tell your supervisor in writing, with the date. Photograph the place and the thing that hurt you. Keep every name.
- 45 days. The last day to give your employer notice of the accident. Illinois Workers' Compensation Act, section 6(c). Notice need not be written, but written notice is proof.
- 3 years. The last day to file your claim at the Commission: 3 years from the accident, or 2 years from the last benefit payment, whichever is later. Section 6(d).
Get treated, and say how it happened
Tell the doctor it happened at work and describe the cause exactly. That record is the first piece of evidence in both claims.
Tell your supervisor, in writing, today
An email or a text with the date is enough. The Act gives you 45 days. The insurer will count them.
Photograph the place and the thing
The scaffold, the forklift, the floor, the truck. Equipment gets repaired and sites get cleaned up by Monday.
Keep the names
Co-workers, the other company's crew, the driver, anyone who saw it. Names go missing faster than records.
Do not sign, and do not give a recorded statement
Not a release, not a return-to-work form, not a statement to any insurer. Say: please call my lawyer.
Two claims, one injury. Usually you can have both.
Comp pays whether or not anyone was careless. In return, it is your only claim against your employer. Everything beyond it turns on one question: did someone else help cause this?
Two claims, one injuryBoth can run at once
The comp claim
The lawsuit
Who you claim against
Your employer, through its insurer.
A company other than your employer: a contractor, a property owner, a manufacturer, a driver's company.
Do you prove fault?
No. Comp is no fault. Your own mistake does not bar the claim.
Yes. You prove negligence: a duty of care, a breach, and harm that followed from it.
What it pays
Medical care, 2/3 of lost wages, a scheduled sum for permanent loss.
What the injury cost in full, including pain and suffering. Illinois has no statutory cap on it.
Where it is decided
The Commission, the state agency for comp claims, before an arbitrator.
The Circuit Court of Cook County, before a judge and jury.
The clock
Notice within 45 days. File within 3 years.
File within 2 years of the injury. 1 year if a public body is the defendant.
Can you have both?
Yes, usually, when a third party exists.
Yes. The insurer is repaid part of what it paid you out of the lawsuit recovery.
The exclusive remedy
The Act makes workers’ compensation the exclusive remedy against your employer: the one legal path for an injury at work, in place of a lawsuit. You give up the right to sue your employer, even when it was careless, and you get benefits without proving fault. Narrow exceptions exist. We check for them, but do not count on one.
The third-party claim
A third-party claim is a lawsuit in negligence against someone other than your employer whose carelessness helped cause the injury: the general contractor on the site, the owner of the building, the company that made or leased the machine, the driver who hit you and the company behind the truck. It pays what comp never will, and Illinois has no statutory cap on damages in a negligence lawsuit.
What comp pays, and what it does not.
The Act pays by formula. The formula is honest about what it leaves out.
A comp claim, line by lineIllustrative wage, real formula
What the Act pays
- Medical care for the injuryPaid by the insurer
- Temporary total disability (TTD), while you cannot work66 2/3% of your average weekly wage
- Permanent partial disability (PPD)A scheduled sum for permanent loss
- Permanent total disabilityWeekly benefits when no work is possible
- Vocational rehabilitationRetraining when your old job is gone
Illustrative weekly benefit
$800a week in TTD on a $1,200 average weekly wage. Starts after a 3-day waiting period, which is paid back once you have been off 14 days. Capped at a state maximum.
What comp never pays
- Pain and sufferingNot paid
- The other third of your wageNot paid
- Loss of a normal lifeNot paid
Only a third-party lawsuit reaches these.If a third party exists
Temporary total disability, TTD, is the weekly check while you cannot work: 66 2/3% of your average weekly wage, the average of what you earned in the year before the injury, up to a state maximum. It starts after a 3-day waiting period, which is paid back once you have been off 14 days.
Medical care for the injury is paid by the insurer. Permanent partial disability is a scheduled sum for a lasting loss, for example a hand that will never grip as it did. Vocational rehabilitation retrains you when the old job is gone.
Comp pays nothing for pain, nothing for the third of your wage it does not replace, and nothing for the life you had. Only a lawsuit reaches those.
What a lawsuit can pay, category by categoryWho else can be liable, besides your employer.
Liability means legal responsibility for the harm. On most sites in Chicago more than one company is at work, and the Act protects only one of them: your employer.
One site, 5 places a claim can attach
Whoever keeps control of the site and the work can be liable in negligence for how it was run: the scaffold, the fall protection, the sequence of trades, the order to keep going.
The owner answers for the condition of the land and the building: a floor, a stair, a dock edge, a loading area that was not safe to work on.
A forklift, a press, a saw or a lift that failed or lacked a guard brings a product liability claim against the company that made it or rented it out.
A road crash on the job, or a truck moving in the yard. Under respondeat superior, an employer answers for its driver's work. This is the part of a work injury our truck practice knows from the inside.
When a temp worker is hurt at a client's site, which company counts as the employer under the Act decides which one is protected from a lawsuit and which one can be sued.
The Kotecki cap, in plain words
When you sue a third party, it will often try to pull your employer into the case and make it share the cost. Under Kotecki v. Cyclops Welding Corp., your employer’s share is capped at what it owes you in comp benefits, unless it signed a contract giving that cap up. The cap shapes every settlement: the third party, your employer’s insurer and you are all negotiating around the same number.
What has to be proved
Negligence: a duty of care, a breach of it, and an injury that followed from the breach. Your own share of the fault reduces a lawsuit recovery and bars it above 50% (735 ILCS 5/2-1116). It never reduces comp.
Is there a third party? 4 questions, answered on the spot.
Answer in any order. The reading updates after each answer and is shown to everyone, complete. No name, no phone number.
- Where were you hurt?
Not answered yet.
- What hurt you?
Not answered yet.
- Who owned or controlled that thing or place?
Not answered yet.
- How were you employed?
Not answered yet.
- 0 of 4 answered
Your reading appears here, as you answer.
Answer the 4 questions. The reading updates after each one and nothing is held back.
- Points outside your employer
- Points to comp alone
- Neither, on its own
This screen gives general information, not legal advice. It cannot see the contracts, the lease or the site records that decide who is a third party. The deadline for a lawsuit is 2 years from the injury, and 1 year when a public body is the defendant. Check your deadline
Have a lawyer check this reading
Optional. The reading above is complete without it. A lawyer reads what a form cannot: who controlled the site, who owned the machine, which company was your employer under the Act, and whether an insurer has already claimed repayment out of your recovery.
We receive your name, your phone number and the 4 answers. Nothing is sent until you press the button.
The lien: what the insurer takes back, and what you keep.
A lien is a legal claim on money before it reaches you. Section 5(b) of the Act gives your employer's insurer one on your lawsuit recovery, for the benefits it paid. It is a subrogation right: the insurer steps into your shoes for the money it spent.
The section 5(b) arithmeticIllustrative numbers
How the insurer's claim shrinks
- Benefits the insurer paid you$60,000
- Less 25% for attorney fees, section 5(b)($15,000)
- Less its share of the case costs($2,400)
Repaid to the insurer$42,600
What reaches you
- Third-party recovery$300,000
- Contingency fee, 40%($120,000)
- Case costs, advanced and repaid($12,000)
- Repaid to the insurer($42,600)
Your share$125,400
The repayment is not the whole amount. Under section 5(b), as the Illinois Supreme Court read it in Taylor v. Pekin Insurance Co., the insurer gives up 25% toward the attorney fee and pays its share of the case costs in proportion to what it takes.
Then the recovery is divided: the contingency fee, the costs the firm advanced, the repayment to the insurer, and the rest reaches you. On the illustrative numbers in the figure, $125,400 of a $300,000 recovery reaches you.
The repayment is negotiated, not simply paid. That is one reason the same lawyer should hold both claims.
Both fees, printedHow a comp claim moves through the Commission.
Six steps. The first 3 are on you and the clock. The rest belong to the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission, the state agency that decides comp disputes.
Six steps, in orderEach step has a clock
- Day 1
You report the accident
To your employer, within 45 days. In writing, dated, the same day if you can.
- Weeks
The insurer accepts or denies
Benefits start, or they do not. A denial is a letter, not the end. The Commission, not the insurer, decides disputes.
- Within 3 years
Application for Adjustment of Claim
The form that opens your case at the Commission. It must be filed within 3 years of the accident.
- Months
Arbitration
A hearing before a Commission arbitrator, who hears the evidence and decides the claim. Many claims settle before this stage, with the arbitrator's approval.
- If appealed
Review
Either side can ask a panel of commissioners to review the arbitrator's decision.
- If appealed again
Circuit court
A further appeal goes to the circuit court, and from there to the appellate court.
The hearing
Arbitration is the hearing stage: a Commission arbitrator hears both sides and decides what is owed. Before it, the file is built: your application for adjustment of claim, the medical records, the wage records, and your doctor’s opinion on what you can do.
A denial is a letter, not a ruling
The insurer writes the first letter. The arbitrator writes the decision. A denied claim goes to the Commission like any other, and the insurer has to prove its position there.
Your job, and the insurer's doctor.
Two things frighten injured workers more than the injury: being sent to the insurer's examiner, and being let go. Both have rules.
Two reports on one injury
- 1Your treating doctor sees you at every visit and records the whole course of the injury.
- 2The insurer’s examiner sees you once, is paid by the insurer and writes for the insurer. That report is what is used to cut benefits off or send you back to work early.
The independent medical examination
The insurer can send you to an independent medical examination, an IME: an exam by a doctor it chooses and pays, who writes a report for it. It is not treatment. The report is used to argue that you can work, or that you have reached maximum medical improvement, the point after which more treatment is not expected to help. Go to it. Tell us before you do, and tell us everything that was said.
Retaliatory discharge
Firing you for filing a comp claim is unlawful. Illinois recognizes retaliatory discharge, a separate claim against an employer that fires a worker for exercising rights under the Act, since Kelsay v. Motorola, Inc. in 1978. An employer can still end a job for other reasons, so the timing and the paperwork matter. Keep every letter.
Light duty
An offer of light duty is often real and sometimes a trap: a job you cannot do, offered so that refusing it ends your TTD. Have your doctor, not the insurer’s, say what you can do.
Where work injuries happen in Chicago.
The numbers are for Illinois, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The places are the ones we see in Chicago.
How Illinois workers died on the job in 2024Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Transportation incidents55
- Violence by persons or animals36
- Falls, slips and trips30
- Contact with objects and equipment20
Of 156 fatal work injuries in Illinois in 2024. The other 15 fell into smaller categories.
- 156people died of a work injury in Illinois in 2024, up from 145 in 2023. 26 of them worked in construction.
- 101,400nonfatal injuries and illnesses were recorded in Illinois private industry in 2023, 2.4 per 100 full-time workers.
- 42,800of those kept someone away from work for at least a day.
Transportation incidents, a vehicle at work, were the leading event in fatal Illinois work injuries in 2024: 55 of 156. A vehicle almost always means a second company, and a second company is where a lawsuit begins.
The workplaces
- ConstructionScaffolds, trenches, cranes and the trades that share one site under a general contractor.
- Warehouses and intermodal yardsForklifts, racking, dock edges and the trucks backing up to them.
- ManufacturingPresses, conveyors and machine guards: the material of product liability claims.
- HealthcareLifting, needlesticks and assaults on the ward. For an agency nurse, the hospital is often not the employer.
- Delivery and drivingA road crash on the clock is a comp claim and, when another driver is at fault, a lawsuit too.
- O'Hare and the rail yardsRamps, tugs, cargo and yard moves, with many employers working on one apron.
What it costs: two fees, two rules.
Nothing up front, for either claim. The comp fee is set by statute. The lawsuit fee is ours. The two never overlap.
Two fees, one receiptPrinted, not hidden
The comp claim
20%
Capped by 820 ILCS 305/16a
- Of the benefits recovered, at most.
- The Commission may allow more only after a hearing.
- Nothing recovered, no fee.
The third-party lawsuit
40%
Our contingency fee
- Of the recovery.
- No recovery, no fee.
- Case costs advanced by the firm and repaid from the recovery.
Never both on the same dollar.A comp benefit carries the 20% rule. A lawsuit dollar carries the 40% rule. No dollar carries both.
On the workers’ compensation claim, section 16a of the Act limits our fee to 20% of the benefits we recover for you, unless the Commission allows more after a hearing. If we recover nothing, you owe no fee. The fee agreement is on the Commission’s own form.
On a third-party lawsuit, our contingency fee, a fee paid only out of the recovery, is 40% of the recovery. No recovery, no fee. We advance the case costs and repay them from the recovery.
A client is never charged both fees on the same dollar. A comp benefit carries the 20% rule; a lawsuit dollar carries the 40% rule. Where the insurer holds a lien, its 25% share of the fee under section 5(b) is shown in the arithmetic above.
Questions people ask about costWhy RBH for a work injury.
Six reasons, and one limit, said plainly.
Two claims, one desk
- 1The comp claim, at the Commission.
- 2The lawsuit, in the Circuit Court of Cook County.
- 3One lawyer carries both, so the repayment to the insurer is negotiated by the same hand that built the recovery.
One lawyer, both claims
The comp claim and the lawsuit are handled by the same lawyer, so the repayment to the insurer is negotiated by the hand that built the recovery.
Vehicles are our depth
A work injury that involves a truck, a driver, a forklift or a yard move is where we already know the companies, the logs and the records.
A lawyer calls you back within the hour
A lawyer, not an intake service, calls you back within the hour. Available 24/7.
The preservation letter goes out the day you retain us
A written demand that the site, the equipment, the video and the logs be kept. Destroying them after that notice is spoliation of evidence, and an Illinois court can sanction it.
We come to you
The hospital, your home, a rehab unit. Intake in Spanish.
The limit, said plainly
A comp claim with no third party is a claim we take seriously, and one the Act does not let anyone make bigger than its formula. We tell you that on the first call.
Questions about work injuries in Illinois.
The most-asked question: how long do I have?Three clocks, one scale
Notice to your employer45 days from the accident
Lawsuit against a third party2 years from the injury
Claim at the Commission3 years from the accident, or 2 from the last payment
Can I sue my employer for a work injury in Illinois?
Usually no. Workers' comp is the exclusive remedy against your employer: in return for benefits paid without proving fault, the Act takes away the lawsuit against your employer. Narrow exceptions exist. A third party, any company other than your employer that helped cause the injury, can be sued. Answer the 4 questions above, then call.
Can I have a comp claim and a lawsuit at the same time?
Yes, when someone other than your employer helped cause it. Comp pays now; the lawsuit pays what comp does not. When the lawsuit recovers, your employer's insurer is repaid part of what it paid under section 5(b) of the Act, less 25% and its share of the costs. Call before you settle anything with anyone.
How long do I have to report a work injury?
45 days from the accident, under section 6(c) of the Act, and the notice does not have to be written. Report it in writing the same day anyway: the date on the email is your proof. If 45 days have passed, call now; whether notice was given is a question of fact, not a formality.
How long do I have to file?
3 years from the accident for the claim at the Commission, or 2 years from the last benefit payment, whichever is later, under section 6(d). 2 years from the injury for a lawsuit against a third party (735 ILCS 5/13-202), and 1 year when the defendant is a public body (745 ILCS 10/8-101). That is the statute of limitations, the legal deadline to file. Use the deadline checker, then call.
What does workers' comp pay in Illinois?
Medical care for the injury, temporary total disability at two-thirds of your pre-injury wage while you cannot work, up to a state maximum, and a scheduled sum for a permanent loss. It pays nothing for pain and suffering. Ask us to check the insurer's wage calculation before you accept it.
Can I be fired for filing a workers' comp claim?
Not for that reason. Firing a worker for exercising rights under the Act is retaliatory discharge, a separate claim Illinois has recognized since Kelsay v. Motorola, Inc. in 1978. An employer can still end a job for unrelated reasons, so keep every letter, text and schedule change, and call before you sign anything.
Do I have to go to the insurer's doctor?
If the insurer schedules an independent medical examination, go. Refusing creates a dispute you do not need. It is the insurer's doctor, not yours, and the report is written for the insurer. Keep treating with your own doctor, and tell us before the exam.
I was partly at fault. Do I still have a claim?
For comp, yes: it is no fault. In a lawsuit, comparative fault reduces your recovery by your share of the blame and bars it above 50% (735 ILCS 5/2-1116). Say exactly what happened. Do not guess at blame, in either direction.
My employer says it was not work-related, or the claim was denied. What now?
A denial is the insurer's position, not a ruling. You file an application for adjustment of claim at the Commission, and the dispute goes to arbitration before a Commission arbitrator. Send us the denial letter the day it arrives.
What does it cost to hire RBH for a work injury?
Nothing up front. On the comp claim, 20% of the benefits recovered at most, the cap set by section 16a of the Act. On a third-party lawsuit, 40% of the recovery, with no fee if there is no recovery and case costs advanced by the firm. Never both on the same dollar.
One call starts both claims: the notice to your employer and the preservation letter. The review is free, and we come to the hospital or your home.
Sources
- Illinois Workers' Compensation Act, 820 ILCS 305/6(c) and 6(d) (notice to the employer within 45 days; a claim filed within 3 years of the accident or 2 years of the last payment)
- Illinois Workers' Compensation Act, 820 ILCS 305/8 (medical care; temporary total disability at 66 2/3% of the average weekly wage with a 3-day waiting period and a state maximum; permanent disability and the schedule; vocational rehabilitation)
- Illinois Workers' Compensation Act, 820 ILCS 305/5(a) and 5(b) (compensation as the exclusive remedy against the employer; the employer's lien on a third-party recovery, less 25% for attorney fees and a share of costs)
- Illinois Workers' Compensation Act, 820 ILCS 305/16a (attorney fees on a compensation claim limited to 20% of the compensation recovered, on Commission forms)
- Supreme Court of Illinois, Taylor v. Pekin Insurance Co., 231 Ill. 2d 390, 2008 (the 25% fee share and the share of costs are taken from the employer's lien)
- Supreme Court of Illinois, Kotecki v. Cyclops Welding Corp., 146 Ill. 2d 155, 1991 (an employer's contribution to a third party is capped at its workers' compensation liability unless waived by contract)
- Supreme Court of Illinois, Kelsay v. Motorola, Inc., 74 Ill. 2d 172, 1978 (retaliatory discharge for filing a compensation claim)
- Illinois Code of Civil Procedure, 735 ILCS 5/13-202 and 5/2-1116 (2-year statute of limitations for personal injury; modified comparative negligence)
- Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, 745 ILCS 10/8-101 (1-year limit for claims against a local public entity)
- Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission (the claim process: application for adjustment of claim, arbitration, review by the Commission, judicial review)
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, Illinois 2024, released 27 March 2026 (156 fatal work injuries, up from 145; transportation incidents 55, violence 36, falls, slips and trips 30, contact with objects and equipment 20; construction 26)
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, Illinois 2023, released 12 December 2024 (101,400 private-industry cases, 2.4 per 100 full-time workers; 42,800 with days away from work)
Tell us what happened. We will tell you what happens next.
Call, or send the form. A lawyer, not an intake service, calls you back within the hour. Free, confidential, no obligation.
No fee unless we winWe come to youAvailable 24/7
- NowYou call or send the form.
- Within the hourA lawyer calls you back.
- The day you retain usThe preservation letter goes out.