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Illinois workers’ compensation law is designed to help employees who have been injured on the job. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 150,000 people in Illinois are involved in work-related accidents each year. Many of these employees require medical treatment and reimbursement for lost wages while recovering. Even if they are forced to leave their place of employment for reasons unrelated to the injury, Illinois law states that they still have the right to benefits. The recent case of a DuPage County worker terminated for stealing is a particularly vivid illustration of this principle.

Although a career as a pilot or flight attendant can be exciting and rewarding, the hours are often long and the pace is often hectic. Many airline workers become injured or ill on the job. According to statistics compiled by the U.S. Association of Flight Attendants, one out of 10 Illinois flight attendants will miss at least one day of work during each year because of job-related trauma. This rate of disability is more than three times greater than the national average for workers in all industries. In many cases, injuries occur during transit and layovers rather than actual flights. Such injuries are often eligible for workers’ compensation.

When truck accidents occur, it is not always immediately evident who is at fault. If negligence, carelessness, distracted driving or alcohol are involved in the crash, the operator is typically the person who is liable. However, in other cases, the driver may not be responsible at all. There are many instances in Illinois where the trucking company or a third party should share accountability or be held solely liable for the accident.

According to a survey conducted by the American Automobile Association, dog owners indicated that they frequently travel with their pet unrestrained in the vehicle. Fifty-six percent of the respondents drove with their pets in the vehicles at least once each month during the year. Many admitted that having the dog in the vehicle created a distracted driving situation. This is the main reason that state Representative Dan Burke in Chicago co-sponsored a bill that would make driving with a pet on the driver’s lap illegal, although it did not gain much support.

In an attempt to discover the role of alcohol on death rates in the United States, researchers from the United States National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism conducted a study comparing death certificates to information gathered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). The results indicated a large discrepancy between the two. Highway data showed that 21 percent of the fatal accidents involved alcohol, while less than four percent of the death certificates indicated that the cause of death was alcohol related.