The Illinois Department of Insurance has brought fraud charges against an insurance agent in Zion, Illinois for selling bogus workers compensation insurance polices to 22 north suburban businesses. As a result, any employee who is injured while working for any of these employers will not be covered.
Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon occurrence in Illinois. The Illinois Attorney General and the Illinois Workers Compensation Commission have taken steps recently to address this issue. The Illinois Workers Compensation Act requires most businesses with employees to have insurance to cover work injuries, and also provides for penalties against employers who fail to have this insurance.
If you are an employee of one of these businesses who is injured at work, you can still get benefits from a special fund set up by the State of Illinois. However, you must follow a set of special procedures to make a claim against this fund for work injuries. This fund covers all benefits available under the Workers Compensation Act, including medical bills for treatment related to a work injury, benefits for time off work and compensation for the permanent effects of the injury. In this circumstance, it is best to have an Illinois workers compensation lawyer with experience in getting benefits for injured workers from this fund.
Lake County insurance agent pleads guilty to fraud, Chicago Tribune, June 25, 2009
Illinois Agent Guilty of Fraud Charges, Financial-Planning.com, June 26, 2009
False insurance leads to jail time for north suburban agent, WBBM780, June 26, 2009
Illinois Agent Guilty of Fraud Charges, Insurance Networking News, June 26, 2009
