A workers compensation attorney from Chicago delivered the keynote address at a symposium on the issue in Marion.
Thursday's event sponsored by Southern Illinois Healthcare brought human resources personnel, business managers and municipal leaders together at Rent One Park.
Dena Kirk is director of SIH's Occupational Medicine and Rehabilitation Services. She says the event brings in experts to help keep employers up-to-date on the latest workers comp laws in Illinois.
"So, people truly know what's going on. What can I do when I get an injured employee? How can I be proactive with making sure we are hiring the right people for the job?"
Attorney Shawn Biery was the keynote speaker. He says political gridlock on the issue in Springfield prevented him from talking about workers compensation reform. So, he informed businesses how to take steps on their own.
"The medical fee schedule in Illinois is saving employers money and things that employers can do is create an occupational health link before they have injuries. So, they can go ahead and already have that set up to where they can get their employees better faster or where they minimize injuries."
The symposium included a mock workers compensation trial for the first time. Biery played the arbitrator in the case.
"What we ended up doing was going through what they call the request for hearing form, the stipulation sheet and talked about all the different objections and all the different things. Then, we basically went in and out and talked about, 'here's some testimony, here's some objections, here's what would come up in some cases."
Biery says he believes workers compensation is not driving as many businesses out of Illinois as Governor Bruce Rauner would lead you to believe.
