Honorable <<<FIRST NAME LAST NAME>>>

Address

City, State ZIp

Dear Senator or Representative <<<LAST NAME:>>>

I'm writing to urge your support of business-endorsed reforms to Illinois' workers' compensation system. If approved, these changes will send a strong signal that Illinois finally is serious about improving the State's business climate. Illinois employers are asking for a fair, reasonable and balanced system for providing employees injured on the job with the benefits they deserve.

The current system simply doesn't meet a basic fairness test. Let me cite you an example from my company. (Insert a short paragraph or two here describing a particularly egregious example you've encountered).

The following changes will ensure eligible employees are properly compensated, reduce the potential for abuse and unreasonable payments and awards, and provide fairness to both employees and employers.

In Illinois, WC benefits may be allowed if the workplace merely is a "contributing" factor in the injury or a factor in aggravating a prior injury. In many states, there is a higher level of causation when determining eligibility for benefits. We urge a change to Illinois' law that would make the workplace the "primary" cause of an alleged injury. Currently awards for permanent disability are subjective, set by arbitrators using his or her own judgment and relying on case history. As a result, many permanent disability awards are allowed even when the medical evidence would not support such a finding. Amazingly, ratings of disability or impairment by physicians are inadmissible as evidence. A majority of states rely on AMA guidelines to determine impairment based on specific measurement of an affected function and nature of the injury. With all the advances in medical science in recent years, Illinois needs to adopt a uniform set of standards for determining permanent disability awards.In many states, injured workers must choose from a list of authorized physicians or a physician who must at times consult with an insurer-chosen physician. In some of these states, the employee-chosen physician must still be from a list within a managed care type network. Illinois needs to return to a system where the employer – who is responsible for payment for care and cost of lost time – determines who is treating the injured employee and can work with them on medical recovery and return to work.

These are key issues that must be addressed if meaningful workers' compensation reform is to be taken seriously. Other important issues include improvements to the medical fee schedule, qualifications and ethics for arbitrators and commissioners, and employee responsibility to be alcohol and drug free on the job.

Until and unless Illinois leaders like yourself make these minimum threshold changes to our State's workers' compensation system, the business community will never be convinced policymakers are serious about improving our climate for business growth and job creation.

We're not asking for a system stacked in favor of employers. We are asking for a fair and balanced system in which employees injured on the job can be effectively treated, rehabilitated, compensated and returned to work.

<<< /s/ >>>