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Injured Workers' Benefit Fund
The Injured Workers’ Benefit Fund was created in 2005 (820 ILCS 305/4(d)). When the Commission collects penalties and fines from uninsured employers, it deposits these monies into the IWBF. The IWBF then pays workers' compensation benefits to injured employees whose uninsured employers failed to pay. Without the IWBF, these workers and their medical providers might not have received the benefits they were due.
To be eligible for IWBF payments, a case must meet all the following criteria:
- The injured employee’s employer has:
- Failed to provide wc insurance coverage for the employee’s injury.
Make sure you search the website for insurance coverage before naming the IWBF as a party. - Failed to pay the wc benefits due and owing to the injured employee under the final award.
- Failed to provide wc insurance coverage for the employee’s injury.
- The injured employee (or his or her representative) has:
- Filed an Application for Adjustment of Claim with the Commission, naming the employer.
- Joined the State Treasurer as a party respondent on the application ("State Treasurer and ex officio-custodian of the Injured Workers’ Benefit Fund"), or filed an amended application , adding the Treasurer, in accordance with Commission Rules (50 Ill. Adm. Code 7020.20).
- Served a copy of the application on the Treasurer.
Mail to Illinois State Treasurer as ex oficio Custodian of Injured Workers' Benefit Fund; attn: Legal Staff; 555 W. Monroe St, 14th Floor, Chicago, IL 60661. - Notified the Treasurer of all proceedings in accordance with Commission Rules and all other applicable court rules.
- Received a final award granting workers' compensation benefits due to the injured employee by the employer (an award is final when the last appeal period has expired and no appeal was filed).
- Send the Commission the Request for Benefits Form (IC 44) (word version) (pdf version) within 90 days after the receipt of a final award. Make sure to complete all fields.
Mail the form to: Department of Insurance; c/o Insurance Compliance, Robert Cavaliere: 122 S. Michigan Ave., 19th Floor: Chicago, IL 60601.
The Division of Insurance Compliance will review and respond to all requests for benefits. Within a reasonable time after the end of each fiscal year (June 30), the Commission will make a disbursement to each eligible claimant based upon the availability of monies in the IWBF.
If there are insufficient monies in the IWBF to pay all claims submitted, distribution will be on a pro rata basis as determined by the Commission. The payment from the IWBF to an injured employee discharges the Fund’s obligations regarding the injured employee’s final award. This means that the injured employee will receive one payment from the Fund for the award.