Illinois Code § 9

§ 9.

Any employer or employee or beneficiary who shall desire to have such compensation, or any unpaid part thereof, paid in a lump sum, may petition the Commission, asking that such compensation be so paid. If, upon proper notice to the interested parties and a proper showing made before such Commission or any member thereof, it appears to the best interest of the parties that such compensation be so paid, the Commission may order the commutation of the compensation to an equivalent lump sum, which commutation shall be an amount which will equal the total sum of the probable future payments capitalized at their present value upon the basis of interest calculated at the maximum rate of interest payable by member banks of the Federal Reserve System on passbook savings deposits as published in Regulation Q or its successor or, if Regulation Q or its successor is repealed, then the rate in effect on the date of repeal. Prior to approval of any pro se Settlement Contract Lump Sum Petition, the Commission or an Arbitrator thereof shall determine if the unrepresented employee, if present, is able to read and communicate in English. If not, it shall be the responsibility of the Commission to provide a qualified, independent interpreter at the time such Petition is heard, unless the employee has provided his or her own interpreter. In cases indicating complete disability no petition for a commutation to a lump sum basis shall be entertained by the Commission until after the expiration of 6 months from the date of the injury. Where necessary, upon proper application being made, a guardian or administrator, as the case may be, may be appointed for any person under disability who may be entitled to any such compensation and an employer bound by the terms of this Act and liable to pay such compensation, may petition for the appointment of the public administrator, or guardian, where no legal representative has been appointed or is acting for such party or parties so under disability. The payment of compensation in a lump sum to the employee in his or her lifetime upon order of the Commission, shall extinguish and bar all claims for compensation for death if the compensation paid in a lump sum represents a compromise of a dispute on any question other than the extent of disability. Subject to the provisions herein above in this paragraph contained, where no dispute exists as to the fact that the accident arose out of and in the course of the employment and where such accident results in death or in the amputation of any member or in the enucleation of an eye, then and in such case the arbitrator or Commission may, upon the petition of either the employer or the employee, enter an award providing for the payment of compensation for such death or injury in accordance with the provisions of Section 7 or paragraph (e) of Section 8 of this Act. (Source: P.A. 98-40, eff. 6-28-13.)