One of the interesting things about workers compensation law is that, unlike certain areas of civil law such as auto accidents or medical malpractice, for instance, that come down to case-by-case factual determinations, it seems as though a great majority of the facets, nuances, and “ins and outs” of this area is regulated and spelled out in the text of the law.

From a practical standpoint, this is due in large part because it falls under the highly specialized category of what is, in the broadest sense, known as “administrative law.”

What this means, in the broadest sense, as it usually tends to differ, is that the Illinois legislature saw fit to remove this field of the law from the general ambit of the court system. Many people do not know this until it actually becomes an issue, but a worker’s compensation claim is not actually a lawsuit against their employer — to the contrary, this is actually a “petition” to the Illinois Industrial Commission, which is itself not technically a court system, but rather an administrative agency.

Granted, the two bodies form similar functions — ultimately, the goal is to bring a dispute to a binding resolution on its merits, and to some, a “commissioner” and a “judge” might sound like more or less the same thing with a different title — but there is still a difference to be noted.

Aside from subtle differences such as decorum, administrative agencies such as the Industrial Commission have more streamlined methods of resolution that generally sidestep things such as the discovery process — the formal exchange of written information — that you see at the courthouse.

Granted, the unique issues to a workers compensation dispute are so vast that it would be next to impossible to confine them to a single blog post, but the important thing to keep in mind is an overall framework that most Americans don’t even know exists — when you’re dealing with the Industrial Commission, you have actually placed your claim into the hands of an administrative agency that is actually outside the general realm of the court system.

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