Illinois Changes Procedure for Workers’ Comp Pro Se Settlement Contracts

The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission announced that as of March 1, 2011, no case settlement contracts will be approved until the case has been assigned a case number and setting.

The IWCC said that in the past, pro se settlement contracts — those in which the petitioner does not retain an attorney — have been reviewed by arbitrators before the case was assigned a case number. The Commission noted that such reviews occurred 3,500 times in 2010.

The Commission asserted that it is extremely sensitive to the needs and desires of injured employees and businesses to get files approved and closed quickly; however, without case numbers, the agency is unable to determine if any of those contracts go astray and fail to get entered into the system.

Beginning March 1, the case number and setting must be entered on the face on the contract.

Source: Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission