Federal Judge Denies Illinois Arbitrators’ Motion

The Belleville News-Democrat reported Saturday that U.S. District Judge Sue E. Myerscough denied the temporary restraining order requested by five Illinois workers’ comp arbitrators in federal court.  As we discussed previously, HB 1698 included a provision that terminated all of the Illinois workers’ compensation arbitrators.  The Governor and the newly appointed Workers’ Compensation Advisory Board are in the process of selecting new, or reappointing previous, arbitrators at this time.

One clarification to the article, as of this morning it states:

…The only arbitrators who will not return are those who do not have a law license, which is a requirement of the reform package. 

While HB 1698 does require that arbitrators are authorized to practice law in Illinois, there is a clause that exempts previously employed arbitrators from that requirement:

Each arbitrator appointed on or after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97^th General Assembly and who has not previously served as an arbitrator for the Commission shall be required to be authorized to practice law in this State by the Supreme Court, and to maintain this authorization throughout his or her term of employment.

Governor Quinn appoints the Workers’ Compensation Advisory Board

Governor Quinn announced his 12 appointments to the Workers’ Compensation Advisory Board in a press release today.  HB 1698 included a provision that terminated all of the members serving on the Advisory Board as of the legislation’s effective date.

The 12 Advisory Board members are:

1.    Mitchell W. Abbett (Holten Meat Inc.)

2.    Richard Aleksy (Corti, Aleksy, and Castenada)

3.    Aaron Anderson (Painters Dist. Council #30)

4.    Michael Carrigan (Illinois AFL-CIO)

5.    John Carpenter (Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce)

6.    Mark Denzler (Illinois Manufacturers' Association)

7.    Phillip Gruber (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers)

8.    David Halffield (Sears Holdings Management Corporation)

9.    William Lowry (Nyhan, Bambrick, Kinzie, and Lowry)

10. Mark Prince (Prince Law Firm)

11. Sean T. Stott (Laborers' International Union)

12. David Vite (Illinois Retail Merchants Association)

One of the main responsibilities of the Advisory Board is the make recommendations to the Governor about the initial set of arbitrator appointments. 

As of July 1^st, all of the current Commission arbitrators were terminated due to the new legislation.  The Commission is currently taking applications for the arbitrator positions, and the Governor has not announced when he will begin appointing new, or reappointing former, arbitrators.  There is also a lawsuit from five arbitrators attempting to block the firings and have that section of HB 1698 ruled unconstitutional.

Five Arbitrators File Suit to Block Firings

One of the first changes resulting from HB 1698 was the termination of the Workers’ Compensation Commission arbitrators for the State of Illinois on July 1, 2011.  The governor is scheduled to appoint new, or reappoint current, arbitrators at an as yet undetermined date.  Until then, the current arbitrators will continue to hear cases until either they are reappointed or their successors replace them. 

Five arbitrators filed suit Tuesday in federal court in order to block the firings and have that particular section of the new legislation ruled unconstitutional.

Both the Belleville News-Democrat & the State Journal Register have the full stories regarding this development.