Changes to Illinois Workers’ Compensation Law Permit Employees to Sue Employers for Asbestos Claims

In May, Gov. Pritzker signed Senate Bill 1596 (Public Act 101-0006), which allows employees with formerly barred asbestos claims to sue their employers directly. This new legislation potentially opens up to liability any employer who had employees before 1994 who worked in buildings built before 1970. Because buildings constructed before that time commonly contained asbestos, workers may have had exposure. Before the legislature passed the new law, employees with asbestos claims were precluded from suing their employers and could not bring workers compensation claims more than 25 years after exposure (so, typically, they sued product manufacturers and non-employer premise owners). Since the enactment of Bill 1596 in May, plaintiffs’ asbestos attorneys have started including employers in asbestos injury lawsuits if the employee’s date of last exposure was prior to 1994. Because prior to May 2019, these employees could not have sued their employers, many employers likely do not have insurance that covers such claims.

The constitutionality of the new law remains unclear. Recent Illinois Supreme Court precedent suggests that allowing plaintiffs with previously barred claims to sue now would run afoul of the Illinois Constitution’s prohibition on the retroactive application of certain laws.

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