Employee wins work comp case for Wallyball injury

In an appellate court case an employee of the Elmhurst park district won his workers compensation case for an injury her received while playing Wallyball durring work hours. The petitioner was a fitness director who began playing a walleyball game when there were not enough players to get a game going. When he came down from a shot he injured his knee that required surgery.

His employer denied the claim, stating that section 11 of the workers compensation act barred the claim. Section 11 of the Illinois workers Compensation act states at the relevant part  ” accidental injuries incurred while participation in voluntary recreational programs do not arise out of and in the course of the employment.”

The arbitrator and the appellate court held that although wallyball is a recreational activity, his job was to help the customers on there fitness goals and he played wallyball not for his own reasons but to accommodate the employers customers, and awarded the injured employee benefits.

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Injured Workers are entitled to three basic Illinois Workers Compensation Benefits

When you’re injured at work you are entitled to three basic worker’s compensation benefits.

A.      Medical Benefits.  An injured employee is entitled to receive all the necessary first aid, medical, surgical and hospital services reasonably required to cure his condition of ill being resulting from his work injury.

B.      Temporary Total Disability Benefits (TTD).  The injured worker is entitled to temporary total disability benefits.  This means the injured worker is entitled to receive two-thirds of his or her average weekly wage during the time he or she is unable to return to work as a result of the work-related injury.  The temporary total disability (TTD) benefits are payable after the first three days the injured worker is off due to a work-related injury.  If the injured worker is off work for more than 14 days for that same injury, the Worker’s Compensation Act requires the worker’s compensation insurance carrier to pay the injured worker the first three days he or she was off.

C.      Permanent Partial Disability Benefits (PPD).  At the conclusion of the case the injured worker is entitled to a permanent partial disability (PPD) benefit.  This PPD benefit is calculated as a percentage of disability for each body part that was injured in the work-related injury times 60% of the average weekly wage up to the current statutory maximum rate.  The current maximum PPD rate is $636.15.

After the work injury, the injured worker must notify his or her employer of the work accident promptly.  The law requires notification within 45 days of the injury.  The notice must be given to a person who is part of the management team of the company as opposed to only a co-worker.  The notice of the injury does not need to be in writing, but the injured worker must notify his or her employer as to the date, time and place of the work injury.