While I think Illinois work comp law is great for injured workers, not every injury is a case. I don’t agree with all of the laws and case rulings that have come down. One area where that is true has to do with the act of standing.
We get contacted by a lot of bank tellers, cashiers, teachers and others who are on their feet for all or most of the day. Generally speaking, if the act of standing injures your feet or legs, it’s not a compensable work comp case in Illinois. There are some exceptions such as if you are working on uneven ground or have to wear special footwear like high heels or steel toed boots.
We don’t dismiss these cases right away when we get asked about them. That’s because even if your job requires you to stand for a lot of the day, that is not likely all that you do. Take for example a cashier who recently contacted us. She has a knee injury and needs surgery.
She said that her legs are usually in pain after standing for an eight hour shift. But when we asked her what else she does, she told us how she bags groceries, often has to carry them and bends and squats a lot for various duties related to being a cashier.
In my opinion, the job activities beyond just standing are the ones that give her a chance of successfully receiving Illinois work comp benefits. If you are squatting while carrying heavy things or even just bending your knees a bit to pick up a heavy bag, that will put stress on your lower limbs. And if you are a cashier at a busy grocery store like Jewel, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Mariano’s, etc., you are doing that over 100 times in a day. So it would make sense that your body might break down a bit.
So the moral of the story is that it’s really important to be detailed with your doctor and any lawyer you talk to about a possible case. It’s more so important to be detailed with the doctor. I say that because I think it’s the lawyer’s job to ask you the right questions. If we just hear “I stand all day” and don’t ask any follow up questions that means we aren’t doing a good job. It’s not your job to know what we need to hear or should be asking.
Her case isn’t a slam dunk. We will need to get a statement from an orthopedic doctor that her injuries are caused, aggravated OR accelerated by her job duties beyond just standing. But she should prevail as should anyone else that does more than just stand in comfy shoes all day at work and gets hurt.