Suffering a workplace injury is frustrating. You may be unable to work, require intensive medical care, and be left with permanent disabilities. However, the situation is all the more vexing if your workers’ compensation claim is denied.

Injured workers depend on workers’ compensation benefits during their recovery. If a claim is denied, the worker may be left with mounting medical bills and other expenses. Here are three common reasons workers compensation claims are denied:

The Accident Did Not Occur at Work

In order to qualify for benefits, your injury must have occurred during work. However, this does not necessitate a specific physical location. If the injury occurred while you were performing your job duties (e.g., out making deliveries), it qualifies. This is one of the most common justifications for a claim denial. Employers and insurers looking to avoid a payout often try to argue that the worker was not “on the job” when the accident occurred.  

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Suffering a workplace injury is frustrating. You may be unable to work, require intensive medical care, and be left with permanent disabilities. However, the situation is all the more vexing if your workers’ compensation claim is denied.

Injured workers depend on workers’ compensation benefits during their recovery. If a claim is denied, the worker may be left with mounting medical bills and other expenses. Here are three common reasons workers compensation claims are denied:

The Accident Did Not Occur at Work

In order to qualify for benefits, your injury must have occurred during work. However, this does not necessitate a specific physical location. If the injury occurred while you were performing your job duties (e.g., out making deliveries), it qualifies. This is one of the most common justifications for a claim denial. Employers and insurers looking to avoid a payout often try to argue that the worker was not “on the job” when the accident occurred.  

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When people think of workplace injuries, they often picture a worker falling off a ladder or slipping on a wet surface. However, not all workplace injuries are caused by single catastrophic event; rather, some are caused by small, repetitive actions that wear down a body part over time. These are known as repetitive motion injuries or repetitive stress injuries (RSI).

According to the Columbia University Department of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine, “Repetitive motion injuries are temporary or permanent injuries to muscles, nerves, ligaments, and tendons caused by performing the same motion over and over again.”

Although RSI could impact any part of the body, the joints in the hands, legs, neck, and feet are most at risk.

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Being injured in a car accident can be a traumatic experience, especially if those injuries are serious. Not only do you deal with the pain and medical treatment that comes with those injuries, but victims also often face financial difficulties because of the cost of the medical care and lost wages from time missed from work as they recover.

In most cases, when a person is injured in a car accident, there is no hesitation about filing for damages against the driver who caused that accident and is responsible for those injuries. But what happens when that driver is someone you know – a friend or family member? Should you still seek compensation? As difficult as that may seem, the answer is yes.

Car Accidents and Insurance Policies

If you are injured in a car accident caused by someone you know, you should treat it the same way you would if that driver was a stranger to you. Do not discuss the accident or any details about your injuries with them. This does not mean you cannot talk to them at all. It just means avoiding the topic of the car accident.

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Under Illinois criminal law, when a person is charged with a serious crime, it is up to the prosecutor to take the legal steps to charge the accused with a felony crime. There are cases where a prosecutor will decide not to pursue felony charges, and the charges the police arrested the accused on are dropped, even if the police disagree with the prosecutor’s decision. However, a group of Illinois lawmakers are seeking to change all that and have recently filed legislation that would allow police chiefs to override the prosecutor’s decision.

Felony Process

Under the current law, there is a standard process that every case must go through before a person can be charged with a felony. The first step to this process is the police investigation. If the police feel they have probable cause to charge a person they suspect of committing a crime, they will place them under arrest. In some cases, this involves obtaining an arrest warrant, while in other cases – such as during a traffic stop – the officer can arrest the individual right on the spot.

After they are arrested, the accused will have a bond hearing where they will enter their plea of guilty or not guilty, and the judge will decide if the defendant can be released on bond and how much that bond should be.

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