SB1358 Summary

• Amends the Workers' Compensation Act to establish that employees required to travel for work are only eligible for benefits if actively engaged in job duties during the injury, excluding commutes to/from work and unpaid breaks.

• Adds formal definitions of "accident" and "injury," requiring accidents to arise from employment-related risks and injuries to be established to a reasonable degree of medical certainty with the work-related accident as the major contributing cause (more than 50% responsible).

• Provides that no employer must pay temporary partial disability or maintenance benefits to employees discharged for cause, though the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission may reinstate benefits retroactively if it finds the discharge was not for cause.

• Establishes that injuries to the shoulder and hip are considered injuries to the arm and leg respectively for purposes of workers' compensation awards.

• Modifies wage computation rules to account for noncontinuous or less-than-full-time employment and situations where employees work for multiple employers, and sets a maximum cumulative partial disability compensation of 500 weeks.