Workers' Compensation Lawyers Association Applauds Illinois Workers' Compensation Commision

VILLA PARK, Ill. - Aug. 28, 2013 - PRLog -- CHICAGO (August 21, 2013)–The Workers’ Compensation Lawyers Association
(WCLA) applauded the efforts of the Administrators, Arbitrators, and the Commissioners of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (IWCC) in implementing the changes to the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act that were addressed in the 2011 legislative amendments and signed into law in 2011 by Governor Patrick Quinn.

The changes to the Act have led to a reduction in workers’ compensation premiums charged to employers. A 4.5% decrease in the statewide average rate used to calculate workers’ compensation insurance premiums shows the changes have made a noticeable impact. These changes bring the total reduction to 13.3% since the law was passed in 2011.

The effects of the changes are still being worked out daily by the Arbitrators and the Commissioners of the IWCC.

WCLA is a 678-member organization comprised of attorneys who represent the interests of both petitioners (the injured workers) and the respondents (their employers).

Practitioners of WCLA will continue to fight for the rights of their individual clients before the Arbitrators and Commissioners of the IWCC, who fairly and impartially hear and decide the workers’ compensation claims, while working through the recent changes to the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act.

“Now that the Governor’s legislation has paid dividends to employers of Illinois, we need assurances that injured victims will be equally protected by increasing the interest rates charged on cases, where the employer appeals a favorable decision to the injured worker. Those cases that are appealed to the Commission or higher courts by an employer, once an Arbitrator has made a decision favorable to the injured worker, can take quite a long period of time to be finalized. The goal is to prevent employers from frivolously denying claims, and then trying to starve out injured workers, in those cases where a judgment has already been made in the injured parties favor, while the case works its way through the sometimes lengthy appeal process.”

For more information on the Workers’ Compensation Lawyers Association (WCLA), please visit www.wcla.info. To request an interview with WCLA President Frank A. Sommario, please call Joanna Klonsky at 312-307-0840.