Illinois state fund not responsible for payment of penalties, attorney's fees
The arbitrator and the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission do not have authority to assess penalties and attorney's fees against the State Injured Workers' Benefit Fund. The fund's payment of penalties and attorney's fees would be contrary to the legislative intent and language of Section 4(c) of the WCA.
Case name: Walker v. Capitol Transport Inc., 16ILWCLB139 (Ill.W.C.Comm.2008).
Walker, an over-the-road truck driver, suffered serious injuries in a motor vehicle accident while delivering a load from California to Chicago. The Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission found that the employer clearly acted in an unreasonable and vexatious manner in not payng benefits. The employer did not pay benefits because it did not have workers' compensation insurance coverage. The State Injured Workers' Benefit Fund did not dispute that penalties and attorney's fees were warranted against the employer. Rather, the fund argued that it should not be liable because penalties and fees are not "benefits." The Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission agreed that the fund was not responsible for payment of penalties or attorney's fees, and as such would be contrary to the legislative intent and language of Section 4(c). Walker still has a valid award against the employer, and he can enforce that award for penalties and attorney's fees in the Circuit Court.
The Illinois Workers' Compensation Commissio explained that the purpose of the fund is to pay benefits in certain circumstances. The monies in the fund are obtained from noncomplying employers through Commission proceedings as a result of settlements and civil penalties assessed. Based on the language and intent of the WCA, "benefits" include temporary total disability, medical expneses, permanent disability and those benefits obligated to be paid under certain circumstances. Penalties and attorney's fees are clearly extraordinary assessments against a defendant who acts in an unreasonable and vecatious manner and are not ordinary benefits as contemplated in Section 4(c). The clear intent of Section 4(c) is for claimants with a noncomplying employer to obtain the normal benefits of temporary total disability, medical expenses, and those regardnig permanency or rehabiliation.
Furthermore, the fund ahs limited monies available from assessments from noncomplying employers. Allowing penalties to be paid would potentially harm other similary situated claimants if the monies from the fund were exhausted due to payment of penalties. Such a result would run contrary to the legislative intent of the WCA to benefit and protect the injured worker.
