By Workers’ Compensation Attorney Matthew C. Jones | Updated October 14, 2026 In Illinois workers’ compensation, average weekly wage (AWW) is generally calculated from your actual gross earnings during the 52-week period ending with your last full pay period before the injury. The calculation can change when you lost time from work, started the job…
By Matthew C. Jones, Illinois Workers’ Compensation Attorney A worker can report a hand, elbow, shoulder, or forearm injury after an accident and later learn that the real problem may be in the cervical spine. That does not mean the worker was exaggerating, changing the story, or inventing a new injury. Nerves travel from the…
By Matthew C. Jones, Illinois Workers’ Compensation Attorney Sometimes—but not simply because a paycheck calls the hours “overtime.” In Illinois workers’ compensation, the average weekly wage (AWW) is the number used to set important benefit rates, including TTD and many permanent-disability payments. Section 10 of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act generally excludes overtime. But courts…
By Matthew C. Jones, Illinois Workers’ Compensation Attorney An Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission arbitrator has ordered authorization of shoulder-replacement treatment and a pre-operative CT scan for a manufacturing worker injured when her hand and arm became caught in a machine. The decision also awarded 66 4/7 weeks of TTD and payment of outstanding medical bills….
By Matthew C. Jones, Illinois Workers’ Compensation Attorney A warehouse worker who developed worsening arm pain, numbness, weakness, and cervical-radiculopathy symptoms after pulling a stuck pallet has won a final Illinois workers’ compensation arbitration decision. The arbitrator ordered the employer to authorize a multi-level C4-C7 cervical fusion, awarded more than 162 weeks of temporary total…
By Illinois Workers’ Compensation Attorney Matthew C. Jones | Updated August 13, 2026 When a worker dies because of a job-related accident or occupational disease, the family may be entitled to much more than payment toward the funeral. Illinois law can provide weekly death benefits to qualifying survivors, payment of medical expenses related to the…
By Matthew C. Jones, Illinois Workers’ Compensation LawyerPublished August 13, 2026; last reviewed August 13, 2026. Quick answer: Illinois changed its workers’ compensation law on August 7, 2026. Public Act 104-0792 creates a 90-day deadline for certain employer-requested medical examinations used to dispute whether treatment is reasonable and necessary. The examining doctor must be board-certified…
By Matthew C. Jones, Illinois Workers’ Compensation Attorney | Last reviewed August 2026 Quick answer: Complex regional pain syndrome – also called CRPS and formerly called RSD in many Type I cases – may be covered by Illinois workers’ compensation when a work injury or related treatment caused or aggravated it. These claims are frequently…
By Matthew C. Jones, Illinois Workers’ Compensation Attorney | Last reviewed August 2026 Quick answer: Illinois workers’ compensation may be required to pay for a spinal cord stimulator trial and, if the trial succeeds, a permanent implant when the treatment is reasonably necessary and related to the work injury. Approval usually depends on the diagnosis,…
By Matthew C. Jones, Illinois Workers’ Compensation Attorney | Last reviewed August 2026 Case result: McHargue & Jones recently won an Illinois workers’ compensation arbitration decision authorizing a spinal cord stimulator trial for a worker with chronic low-back and leg pain. The arbitrator found the injured worker credible, relied on the treating doctors over a…
By Matthew C. Jones, Illinois Workers’ Compensation Attorney Quick answer: Yes. McHargue & Jones handles workers’ compensation cases in Joliet and throughout Will County. Our office is in Chicago, but we regularly appear for Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission status calls, hearings, and trials in Joliet. We have represented employees of Amazon, Grainger, Caterpillar, Ascension Saint…
By Illinois Workers’ Compensation Attorney Matthew C. Jones Case result: McHargue & Jones won a contested Section 19(b) hearing for an Illinois State employee after the State argued that her fall at work was idiopathic or otherwise unrelated to her employment. Gallagher Bassett administered the claim as the State’s third-party administrator, and the Illinois Attorney…
By Illinois Workers’ Compensation Attorney Matthew C. Jones Quick answer: Many falls at work are covered by Illinois workers’ compensation, but coverage is not automatic merely because the accident happened at the workplace. The employee must generally prove that the fall arose out of and occurred in the course of employment. Water, condensation, snow, ice,…
