We are in a weird time. Unemployment at the end of 2024 was near an all time low. At the same time there are so many companies that are having trouble hiring and keeping good workers. A ton of places are simply understaffed. This is causing a lot of problems including a rise in work related injuries.
Some companies don’t have enough workers because they can’t find people. Others are trying to save money by making one person do the job of 2-3 people. We see this in every industry, but it’s by far the worst in healthcare.
Nurses, CNA’s, RN’s and others end up having to lift patients without help. This leads to back, shoulder and leg injuries. They get less breaks which can cause repetitive stress injuries over a period of time. This can lead to carpal tunnel, hernias, rotator cuff tears, herniated discs and more problems.
And even when there seem to be enough workers, lack of supervision or training due to staffing issues can have some downstream effect of causing workers to get hurt. This is true in not just healthcare, but factories and restaurants often too. When you are doing jobs you aren’t trained for, mistakes can happen and injuries occur. You can be as careful as possible, but if you aren’t sure how a machine works it increases your chance of injury.
An increase in pressure by your boss to get more work done with less people can also cause injuries. This tends to lead to people trying to work too fast to get everything done since they have much more on their plate.
The good news is that if you get hurt, the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act protects you. You will get compensated for all of your time off of work. 100% of your medical bills will be paid. When you are all better we should be able to get you a settlement. If it’s a bigger injury, that settlement could be $100,000 or more.
The bad news is that the work comp system in Illinois can’t punish your employer for an injury that happens due to understaffing. Illinois work comp is a no fault law. That means you can’t sue for negligence or get more because your employer made a bad decision. It works both ways. They can’t deny your claim if you were at fault and made an error on a machine because you don’t know how it works. If you are doing job activities that benefit your employer, you should get work comp benefits. Those benefits can be significant.
What you can do is file a complaint with the Illinois Department of Labor or other organizations like OSHA which is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. They might come in and inspect your work place and see if improvements need to be made for safety reasons. In some industries like nursing, you can contact the State of Illinois if laws on staffing aren’t being followed. These are also issues a labor law attorney might be able to help with.
I do fear that these issues are going to get worse in the coming years, not better. We can protect you if these problems arise and would love to help you. If you’d like a free, confidential consultation, please call us any time at 312-346-5320. We help with work related injuries everywhere in Illinois.