Understanding Disability in the Workplace: LTD, STD, Workers' Compensation and Return to Work

Employers often struggle with understanding what regulations impact their illness and injury programs and how to remain compliant.  During this webinar, Scott Cruz, Labor and Employment Attorney at Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, PC, will provide attendees with a thorough analysis and discussion to help them understand the term disability under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act, and will provide in-depth analysis covering the various available benefits including Long-Term Disability (LTD) and Short-Term Disability (STD), as well as their interplay with workers’ compensation benefits. The webinar will present specific strategies to assess return-to-work motivation, risks and factors which can impact a prolonged period of disability and create barriers which influence return-to-work outcomes. Finally, Scott will address several COVID-19 issues impacting the return-to-work situation for an injured worker.

Learning Objectives

•Attendees will be able to define disability under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act.

•Attendees will be able to recognize the impacts of long-term disability (LTD) and short-term disability (STD) benefits toward achieving case closure.

•Attendees will be able to identify some of the common return-to-work pitfalls to avoid related to an employee’s claim of disability and in this COVID era.

About the Speaker: Scott Cruz

Scott Cruz represents public and private sector employers in all aspects of labor and employment law, including civil litigation and preventative counseling. Scott represents employers in state and federal courts and administrative agencies involving claims brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, retaliatory discharge, breach of contract, labor arbitration and class actions. He is particularly versed in all aspects of state and federal law relating to minimum wages, overtime, exemptions, and wage payment issues. Scott provides management and employee training on workplace legal issues and conducts workplace investigations and legal audits.

He assists employers in drafting employment policies and employment agreements and helps companies enforce non-competition and non-solicitation agreements and protect their trade secrets, proprietary information, customer relationships, and other valuable assets.

Scott has handled unemployment audits before the Illinois Department of Employment Security and defended unemployment compensation claims. He also has extensive civil litigation experience on behalf of educational institutions and has successfully dismissed lawsuits for clients on a motion to dismiss or on summary judgment in the Circuit Courts of Cook, Will, Kane, Lake and DuPage counties.

Scott has presented to clients and organizations on topics including conducting effective workplace investigations and analyzing and defending unemployment insurance claims. He is on the Board of Directors of Alivio Medical Center, a not-for-profit whose mission is to increase Hispanic access to comprehensive, affordable quality health care.

https://www.greensfelder.com/professionals-scott-cruz.html