Last December, I was at a bar with a friend and we struck up a conversation with the guy next to us. Turns out he was a battery engineer which I didn’t know was a thing. He told me about the electric vehicle company he worked for, Rivian. I had never heard of them, but my friend, who loves cars, knew all about them. They are essentially better versions of Tesla, but SUV’s and trucks.
Sure enough, after meeting this guy, I started seeing Rivian vehicles on the road more and more. And it turns out that they have a factory in Bloomington-Normal. Since this chance meeting I’ve been contacted by five injured workers from that plant and expect to be able to help many more.
The factory is at the site of a former Mitsubishi plant. While it seems like a good company that doesn’t do the unethical things Tesla has been accused of, the nature of the jobs there does lead to a lot of injuries. In addition, there is pressure to ramp up production as the company tries to survive. So the 7,500 or so employees are doing a high demand, labor intensive job.
As you’d expect, we’ve seen a lot of back and upper arm injuries from the heavy lifting that is required at times in assembling these vehicles. Some workers get injured due to repetitive lifting over time and others will be lifting an item and feel a pop in their back or a strain in their arm. In each case, if you can prove that the job contributed to that problem happening, you should have a good Illinois workers compensation case. That would provide you payment for 100% of your medical bills at a doctor of your choosing, payment for time off work and a settlement when you are all better.
These workers of course suffer other injuries as well. It’s not uncommon to have slip and falls in various areas of the plant due to various substances on the floor. And while I think it’s generally a good company, at least a dozen employees accused the company of violating safety rules in a complaint to Federal regulators. The complaint alleges many injuries that include a crushed hand, a broken foot, a cut ear, and broken ribs among others. One employee even claimed that management retrieved damaged electrical cables from the garbage and instructed employees to use them. Other workers said that Rivian’s culture doesn’t prioritize safety.
We’ve seen with many other Illinois factory environments like this that injuries will happen that shouldn’t. Unfortunately you can’t sue Rivian for negligence if you work there. Fortunately though the work comp laws in Illinois are incredibly strong and will give you significant compensation if your injury is serious.
We’ve helped tens of thousands of Illinois injured workers and would be happy to help you if you want to discuss a case. For a free, confidential consultation, call us any time at 312-346-5578.
