A 54-year-old cleaning worker bent over dozens of times a day to do her job. One day, her back gave out. The insurer used a medical exam to claim she was “ready to work.” Reality — and her settlement — said otherwise.
When an Insurer’s Doctor Overrules the Injury
One of the most common ways insurers fight a back-injury claim is the independent medical examination — an exam by a physician the insurer selects, who often clears the worker for full duty. Paired with a dispute over whether the worker turned down light duty, that tactic can be used to cut off benefits. Overcoming it requires a firm that will stand up to the IME and document the worker’s real condition.
Inside the Workplace Injury
In January 2023, the client was working as a cleaner for a cleaning-services company in Chicago. Her job required constant bending. As she bent down to remove a hose, she injured her lower back and could no longer continue working normally. It was the breaking point for a spine placed under strain day after day.
The Fight Over the IME
This is where the battle began. The employer’s insurer arranged an independent medical examination, and that physician released her to full duty — as if her back were fine. A dispute over light duty followed. The client felt she wasn’t believed, even as her pain remained real. Left unchallenged, the IME could have ended her benefits and left a genuine injury unrecognized.
Turning Strategy Into Justice
Jack Epstein, with 30 years of experience in the Illinois legal market, personally oversaw the case. Our legal team filed the workers’ compensation claim with the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, defended her case against the insurer’s IME, and documented her lumbar injury and her true restrictions. We refused to let a single exam erase her pain. The client paid nothing until we won the case.
A Settlement That Recognized the Injury
The case resolved in early 2026 with a $98,000 settlement. The agreement recognized her back injury despite the insurer’s attempt to minimize it with a medical exam that cleared her for full work.
Lower-back injuries from repetitive bending are common among cleaning, janitorial, and service workers, and insurers frequently lean on an IME to argue the worker can return to full duty. Standing up to that opinion — with the worker’s treatment history and honest documentation of her limits — is what turns a disputed claim into a fair recovery. An insurer’s exam is not the final word on a worker’s pain.
Older workers in physically demanding service jobs are especially vulnerable when an IME is used to push them back to full duty before they have truly recovered. A back injury that ends the ability to bend, lift, and clean all day is a serious, life-changing harm. Holding the line against a premature “full-duty” release is what allowed this worker’s injury to be valued honestly rather than erased.
Their doctor said she could work. Her back said otherwise. We stood up to the exam — and a disputed claim became a $98,000 recovery.
If you injured your back doing physical cleaning, lifting, or repetitive work — or an insurer’s medical exam claims you can work when you know you can’t — our Illinois workers’ comp lawyers can help you recover what you rightfully deserve. A Chicago workers’ compensation attorney can stand up to the IME and fight for the benefits you earned. Contact us today for a free consultation.
