Jonathan Barrish of Litchfield Cavo LLP informed me that the IL Supreme Court issued their opinion on the Interstate Scaffolding v. The Workers’ Compensation Commission case on Friday.
The justices were asked to determine whether an employer’s obligation to pay TTD benefits to an employee who was injured in the course of his/her employment ends if and when the employer terminates the employee for reasons unrelated to the original work injury.
In their opinion, they held that the petitioner in this case was in fact entitled to TTD benefits after being terminated until the date it was determined his medical condition stabilized and he reached maximum medical improvement (MMI).
From the opinion:
Looking to the Act, we find that no reasonable construction of its visions supports a finding that TTD benefits may be denied an employee who remains injured, yet has been discharged by his employer for “volitional conduct” unrelated to his injury. A thorough examination of the Act reveals that it contains no provision for the denial, suspension, or termination of TTD benefits as a result of an employee’s discharge by his employer. Nor does the Act condition TTD benefits on whether there has been “cause” for the employee’s dismissal. Such an inquiry is foreign to the Illinois workers’ compensation system.
(Click Here to read the full opinion.)
