Chicago Alderman Burke’s Vocamotive Charge Chicago massive Rates

We all know about Vocamotive Vocational Rehabilitation Training. The City of Chicago has hired them to provide ways to reduce the millions Chicago pays in Workers Compensation benefits. Alderman Burke has hired a bunch of political hacks to work on his Committee on Finance. Dog walkers, dog groomers, hair dressers. Alderman Burke even hired a male stripper. Many folks that work for Alderman Burke have no schooling in Insurance Claims, workers’ compensation, investigations.

When that happens, Chicago Taxpayers pay millions more to hire professionals and consulting companies to pick up the slack. Claims drag on, City of Chicago Lawyers handling claims quit, and claims get bogged down. This costs Chicago taxpayers millions more. In case you read Chicago Newspapers, you will find Chicago investigative journalism has completely gone down the toilet. Chicago Journalist only print what Rahm tells them to. How sad.

Last year Vocamotive provided support services to the City of Chicago Committee on Finance to the tune of $500,000.00 dollars. That would have provided many more patronage workers for Alderman Burke, but no political donations. Vocamotive provides legal assistance to the Committee on Finance because their legislative aides are incapable of doing the job. In fact, Monica Somerville and Luana Olivas-Montoya should be fired if they cannot train the staff to do a complete professional job for the broke taxpayers. I would not expect much from Monica Somerville, she was fired as a Law Department Attorney after suing her boss for sexual harassment. She skipped the “Do not hire List”. Alderman Burke likes what he sees in her.

Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Vocational Training people get paid about $15.50 per hour. Vocamotive charges an astounding $85.00 through $105.00 per hour. Vocamotive also charges Chicago taxpayers hundreds of dollars for loaning cheap computers, and hundreds more for basic Microsoft classes. Chicago pays massive rates for travel time, talk on phone time, and wait time. The billing is better than lawyer rates.
Please look at the attached rates. Click on READ MORE What a mark-up. And you wonder why Alderman Burke is a millionaire and Chicago is Bankrupt. Where is Rahm Emanuel? Where is Inspector General Joe Ferguson?

Vocamotive City of Chicago Rates.pdf

Vocamotive Vocational Training you do not need or want

I hope this video is an introduction to how the City of Chicago, Alderman Burke, his Committee on Finance, The City of Chicago Departments, The Illinois Workers Compensation Commission, The Illinois Workers Compensation Lawyers, The Illinois Board of Higher Education, Vocational Rehabilitation, Vocamotive works.
The graphics are simple, but powerful. Please wait through the entire video so you can see them all. Then you can put two and two together for yourself. I have much more information on the way, but too much gets people bogged down. So, this is a five +minute presentation and I hope it helps anyone hurt at work in Illinois.

If you are hurt at work while at the city of Chicago, I suggest you make sure you take an ambulance to the hospital. I hope you take every test you can to figure out what is wrong with you. I also suggest you take pictures when you get hurt, when you enter the ambulance, when you are at the hospital. Ask a friend to take pictures of everything. Pictures are your best friend and they will refresh your memory later.

Most things after this are on cruise control. The city will ask you to go to Mercy Works for a doctor’s visit, the city will drug test you, the Mercy works doctors will make some recommendations for medical care. Many times, they will tell you take some pills and go back to work. Sometimes they recommend more tests and will give you some time off.

If you do not cooperate with Mercy Works, they might say you have “conduct unbecoming a city worker.”

As soon as you can, hire your own doctor to get the care you need. Many doctors do not want to deal with Chicago Workers Compensation cases because they wait years for their money.

I strongly suggest you listen to your doctor and do what he says. Your health is important for the rest of your life. The City of Chicago does not give “light duty” unless you have Clout. Many Chicago City Workers go back to work hurt and end up addicted to pain killers and opiates.

After that get a good lawyer. Again, most worker’s compensation lawyers in Chicago talk a great game when you first meet them. They want to lock up and tie up your claim. Most Chicago Workers compensation lawyers do not want to deal with the city because the city withholds workers’ disability pay and medical care. The Chicago Committee on Finance has been a clout dumping ground for patronage workers. Could you imagine a hair dresser or a dog walkers handling your case? The COF is also a place where Alderman Ed Burke shakes down health care providers for his campaigns and the democrat party.
There is no place to make complaints because the Illinois Workers Compensation Commission only takes complains against private Insurance companies. Chicago is left free to run a clout patronage empire that enriches all the insiders.

Most Chicago City Workers return to work after a nice winter on Workers Compensation. The clog up the system from folks that have a legitimate claim.

Some workers are left on duty disability for the rest of their lives and some are sent to Vocational training.
Vocational Training is the City’s way of removing employees with serious health problems. More on that later.
Vocational Training is a way the City of Chicago has private contractor to do their dirty work. This shields companies from FOIA and accountability. Chicago never uses Reasonable accommodations unless the Mayor’s Office tells them, so the city can keep patronage workers on the payroll.

Vocational training consists of an assessment and recommendations that allow the City to remove workers and reduce their liabilities. The companies like Vocamotive take the City employee far away from the city and teaches basic typing and Microsoft classes. Many old trade and construction workers have had problems with this new technology. The Committee on Finance does their part to ensure failure by withholding duty disability payments. The checks are printed on time, sent for postage, and then sent back to the claims adjuster. The Claims adjuster sits on the checks until they are ordered by Monica Somerville to release them. This allows the city to provide more hardships to already injured workers. The U.S. Postal Service has done nothing to stop this practice.

Please remember, The City Law Department, the workers’ compensation lawyers, the Illinois Workers Compensation Board, the Committee on Finance, The Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors, the City medical providers, the city consultants, deal with each other year after year. They do not care about you. They make piles of money, reward and enrich each other.

You must do everything to protect you, your family and your heath. Document, Document, Document. Talk to you soon.
I hope I can help, contact me at chicagoclout@gmail.com . Special Thanks to Jay Stone, The smartest man in the room.

Vocamotive Vocational Training Illinois Workers Compensation

Vocamotive Alderman Burke final picture.jpg

The City of Chicago Committee on Finance is run by Alderman Burke. For some time, Jay Stone, a reformer and political expert in Chicago has taken on the machine. When Jay Stone was investigating the Committee on Finance he ran into a level of corruption that would make Mayor Rahm Emanuel blush. The Chicago Inspector General Joe Ferguson was alerted and if history is any indicator, Joe will do nothing. Shame.

Many Chicago City Workers are injured due to negligence on the part of the city. As a current City of Chicago Department of Water Management Plumber, I firsthand experience a lack of interest making the job safer. I made serval complaints to the Chicago Inspector General, newspapers, and the mayor’s office to make a proper work environment. I was concerned about lead and fecal matter in drinking water. Water main quality and shoring was a major concern. Many of the water main repair crews still carry around shoring and it never leaves the trailers. It is just for show. If someone is injured, the shoring is placed next to the ditch. False reports are made every day showing safety procedures are followed.

The City of Chicago has still failed to complete across the board drug testing, and as a result many workers are crippled no fault of their own. The City of Chicago treats injured workers different. Clout and Corruption rules supreme.

Not long ago, I was injured and I still have serious lasting problem from two injuries. One in July of 2011 after an attack by an off-duty police detective. This incident is finally under the radar by the U.S. Department of Justice. I also have an injury from September of 2013. I will give details when the time is right.

I was not going to write about these incidents, but many additional injured workers complained to me, I knew something needed to be done. We made some videos. We talked to major newspapers. We talked to reporters. Jay Stone became an important advocate for those with no voice. Jay Stone is an inspiration to me. Some videos were made which exposed black workers that were denied treatment. They were later fired for b.s. reasons. Some black workers lost their jobs through an unfair system.

Jay Stone uncovered a pay to play system at the Committee on Finance. Many contractors that provide services to Chicago are expected to pony up to Alderman Burke and the Democratic Party. One person at the Committee at Finance, had a family member working for a contractor that did hundreds of thousands of dollars of work at the Department of Water Management. To this day, there is not proof any work was done. The lawyers are expected to pay up for democratic candidates. The judges make completely different decisions on relatively same cases. None of the lawyers expose this corruption as it is the way the system works. In fact, Illinois lawyers routinely run a puppy mill in workers’ compensation. The more cases you settle the more money you make. Preparing for cases takes time and money. The real money is in the back end when the medical bills are settled and additional services.

Nestled in the beautiful suburbs of Hinsdale, lies a Chicago subcontractor to Alderman Burke’s Committee on Finance. It is Vocamotive. Vocamotive is a nice business because they a service to employers and Insurance companies. They also provide a service to lawyers. Lawyers “make the deal”, to obtain this service and get a slice of the pie! What better way to move a workers comp case along than to have a lawyer send his client to Vocamotive for “Job Training”. Let me make something perfectly clear, Vocamotive is only there to reduce the liability to insurance company or to the city of Chicago. They give political contributions to Alderman Burke. Nice? When I reviewed what Vocamotive does, I was shocked. They look for every single thing wrong with the student. The reports they write have no dignity at all. They make injured workers look like assholes, it is great for the insurance companies looking for any way to get off the hook. It also works great for plaintiff lawyers because when the city stops the duty disability payments, it forces cripples to settle on the penny. Vocamotive also is another way of hiding records from the injured as they refuse to release records directly to the injured. They hid behind a veil.

On September 15, 2016, I went to the awesome suburbs of Hinsdale. It is a shame Chicago does not use a company in the city as blacks have the lowest employment rate.
I gave Vocamotive a copy of an order to release my records for evaluation by a licensed state agency. I have to pay for my own Vocational Rehabilitation now. The receptionist was nice and was looking for permission to release my records in the back room. It was then I notice the humiliating jobs injured people get from Vocamotive. Ladies were sent to maid duties as a job alternative. Nice eh? The trick is to discourage people and make them quit. Humiliate people that are injured. They are “reservicing” people with costly computer training that are old, and injured. One lady I interviewed, had a stroke is very near retirement; She is applying for positions she is not capable of doing. Amazing how Vocamotive is not under closer scrutiny. She informed me employers are looking at her as a complete liability, no one want to hire a person that can only talk out of part of their mouth. When she had the stoke the Department of Water Management withheld her pay for a couple of years. She had the stroke when she was at Vocamotive and was told to keep working. Nice?

Back to me, the receptionist at Vocamotive returned and told me to return early the next morning to talk to a higher up to obtain the records. Next thing I know, I received an email stating if I returned to Vocamotive, the Hinsdale Police would be called. Vocamotive insinuated I was unprofessional and with a gang of thugs. Something is amiss.

I filed a second complaint against Vocamotive with the Chicago Inspector General and also with the Illinois Board of Higher Education. This company needs to be investigated for discriminating against people. There seems to be a major problem with workers’ rights. People that are injured and file a Workman’s Compensation Claim should be treated better. Not all Chicago City Workers that are injured are sent to Vocational Training. Only the ones that do not engage in politics and those Alderman Burke doesn’t want, are forced out. I contacted Plumbers’ Local 130 and their lawyers responded to this being an Illinois Workers’ Compensation issue, despite the bargaining contract that should to protect workers. I also contacted friends in the media and they felt there is two sides to the story when it comes to injuries. I agree. Only in Illinois could any system be this broken and corrupt. More on this soon.