The Illinois Appellate Court ruled that E. Belinda Bauer, widow of Omron Electronic Components LLC president and COO Craig Bauer, was awarded workers’ compensation benefits after her husband died due to an illness contracted on work travels, Business Insurance reported on November 18. According to court documents, Mr. Bauer went to China and Japan in… Read More

The Workers’ Compensation Research Institute recently released a new study that showed the reforms made in 2011 to lessen the cost of healthcare services for injured workers in Illinois are still impacting the dwindling cost of medical care, the Insurance Journal reported on November 3. According to the report titled, “CompScope Medical Benchmarks for Illinois, 15th… Read More

A 50-year-old man was killed earlier this week in an accident at a BRG Sports plant in Rantoul. Police were called to the plant on Wednesday around 9:30 p.m. after a man sustained a head injury when he fell from a shelving unit on which pallets were stacked. When police arrived on the scene, the man… Read More

The Appellate Court of Illinois ruled that Walter Matuszczak, a former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. night stocker who injured his neck, back, and arm after several shelves of glass cleaner fell on top of him while he was at work back in March 2010, is entitled to the remainder of his temporary total disability benefits despite… Read More

Worker advocates in Illinois have expressed their fears regarding gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner, a millionaire venture capitalist from Winnetka, claiming that the GOP candidate is bad for Illinois workers, Progress Illinois reported on September 22. Northern Illinois Jobs with Justice member Mary Shesgreen said Rauner’s views would be detrimental to the labor sector in the state, as… Read More

The non-profit National Safety Council, which is chartered by Congress, and BRONZ, a company that assesses workplace safety, will work hand in hand to make workplaces across the country safer by crafting initiatives based on the Journey to Safety Excellence principles. According to national records, 5 million people are injured at work each year, while… Read More

Illinois-based Champion Roofing Inc. has been cited by the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for forcing workers to work on a low-sloped roof, 13 feet above the ground, without the necessary means to protect them from falling. This comes after repeated violations in the past five years for the same problem. OSHA… Read More

In the face of national data that declares Illinois the third worst state in the country for businesses, news that Illinois’ workers’ compensation rates will again decrease has been met with widespread support, Illinois Watchdog.org reported on August 4. Illinois Governor Patrick Joseph Quinn III announced that the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) suggested a drop… Read More

An Illinois Appellate Court declared that a plaintiff, the estate of James Folta, can pursue asbestos personal injury claims against Folta’s former employer, Ferro Engineering, despite the statute of limitations for workers’ compensation cases, Lexology reported on July 2. According to court documents, Folta received exposure to asbestos while he was working in the defendant’s plant… Read More

President Barack Obama stated at the White House Summit on Working Families that women in the United States should get paid maternity leave, the Associated Press reported on June 23. In response to Obama’s proposition, Florida Republican Senator Marco Antonio Rubio, who is rumored to run in the 2016 presidential elections, said he will start working on a… Read More