Department Posts Proposed Comp Surcharge Settlement

The Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission has agreed to refund $3.3 million to business owners who paid surcharges to support its operations in the past six years, under a proposed agreement that would settle a 2004 class-action lawsuit filed by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.The Chamber contended in the lawsuit that the Workers' Compensation Commission Operations Fund surcharge levied on employers had been "deliberately set at a rate intended to generate revenue in excess of the amount needed" to fund the commission, and that the use of the surplus from the surcharge for general...