temporary total disability

AG, a 58 year old housekeeper, was a long time employee of an international hotel chain when she suffered a work related injury. While pulling sheets from a bed, she extended her arm, and felt a sharp pain in her shoulder. Following surgery, restrictions were placed on her lifting. In spite of searching for work, AG could not get a job. After a lengthy period of negotiation, AG accepted a $200,000 settlement which included $35,000 for future medical treatment.

A State of Illinois was hit by a semi tractor trailer suffering serious injury and surgery from which he remained off work for 6 months. Lipkin & Apter secured workers' compensation total temporary disability payment and ALSO negotiated a personal injury settlement resulting in a total settlement of over $1,000,000.

The Workers’ Compensation attorneys at Lipkin & Apter were contacted by M.R., a fifty-year-old suburban police officer who suffered a serious knee injury, that ultimately required knee surgery to repair his knee while responding to an emergency call. Lipkin & Apter was repeatedly forced to argue with the insurance company for M.R.’s employer to ensure that he received his temporary total disability (i.e. weekly benefits) while he remained unable to work. Additionally, he pursued a finding of permanent and total disability from the Illinois Pension Board while receiving TTD from Workers’ Compensation-a process that took many months of diligence and patience. Ultimately, M.R. was awarded a Duty Disability monthly pension. Lipkin & Apter was then able to secure for M.R. an excellent Lump Sum Workers’ Compensation settlement over $147,000.00, an amount equal to 40% loss of a person as a whole for permanent disability.

A 53-year-old long term and reliable school custodian JS contacted Lipkin & Apter after his school district failed to accommodate his light-duty work restrictions and denied him worker compensation, financial and medical benefits. He was told by his supervisor that the restriction written by his rheumatologist could not be honored - he either had to work full duty or not at all, at which point JS went home. As a result, JS had now been unemployed and penniless for several months and was not receiving any temporary total disability benefits or weekly workers compensation and a petition for an emergency trial was filed immediately. During the trial, the school district attempted to discredit JS's account by discrediting the number of pieces of furniture he had to move each night and the number of classrooms for which he was responsible. On the other hand, Lipkin & Apter attorneys cross-examined his supervisors to reveal that JS performed his job well and so they had little reason to actually watch him work. Meaning they did not know how he rearranged the chairs and desks. Nor did they know the distance the equipment had to be moved. Following the trial, the arbitrator Awarded Medical Benefit, Temporary Total Disability, Back Pay, and Permanent Disability to JS.

An Independent Medical Exam (IME) is an opportunity for the employer to have you examined by a doctor of their choosing. But the IME doctor is not going to engage you in a doctor-patient relationship. And they may not agree with the treating doctor. Here are your options.