Construction worker says he was fired after filing work comp claim

A former construction worker claims he was wrongly terminated from his job after he filed for workers’ compensation benefits.

Craig A. Adkins filed a lawsuit Oct. 29 in Madison County Circuit Court against The Killian Corporation.

In his complaint, Adkins alleges he worked for The Killian Corporation from 2005 through 2011. On June 27, 2011, while working on an Interstate 55 construction project, Adkins sustained injuries, according to the complaint.

Immediately following the incident, Adkins contacted his supervisor to inform him of his injuries. Soon afterwards, he received a phone call from his employer’s safety director, Mike Morris, who told Adkins he could either visit an urgent care facility and pay with his own insurance or could file a workers’ compensation claim. By visiting the urgent care clinic, Adkins would be placed on light work duties or could incur more costs by filing a workers’ compensation claim, the suit states.

Adkins visited his family physician, who asked for a workers’ compensation claim number after learning how he was hurt, the complaint says.

When Adkins’s employer learned that he had filed for workers’ compensation benefits, Morris called him to say, “So you’re going the work comp route? This is going to complicate things,” the suit states.

The Killian Corporation thereafter refused to pay Adkins total temporary disability benefits and refused to allow him to return to work despite his repeated requests to be able to do so, he claims.

“There is a causal connection between plaintiff’s exercise of his rights under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act and defendant’s termination of plaintiff’s employment,” the suit states.

In his complaint, Adkins seeks lost wages, benefits and compensatory damages of more than $100,000, punitive damages of more than $50,000, costs and other relief the court deems just.

Lee W. Barron of Alton and Kim L. Kirn of Alton will be representing him.

Madison County Circuit Court case number: 12-L-1761.