Ordinarily, workers’ compensation in Pennsylvania is an “exclusive remedy.” That means, the typical injured worker in PA cannot sue anyone for his or her injuries, and only has benefits under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act (Act) available. There are exceptions when the injury was caused by the negligence of a…
We have discussed Section 204(a) of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act (Act) on this blog in the past. This is the provision of the Act that provides a credit to the workers’ comp insurance carrier for certain other benefits an injured worker might receive, such as pension, social security retirement,…
One of the more disputed areas of workers’ compensation in PA, and therefore the source of many appellate decisions, is whether an employee is injured in the scope and course of his or her employment. We have addressed scope and course of employment many times on this blog. Recently, another…
We have discussed the Notice of Temporary Compensation Payable (NTCP or TNCP) on this blog in the past. This is a tool a Pennsylvania workers’ compensation insurance carrier can use if it is still investigating and unsure whether to formally accept liability for a work injury in PA (instead of…
The fallout from the decision rendered by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in the Protz case is only just beginning. Since this decision will change how workers’ compensation cases are handled in PA (at least for the moment), the PA Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has now issued a statement on…
We have written volumes about the Impairment Rating Evaluation (IRE) process. It would now appear all of those words just became moot with the decision rendered by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, which ruled the entire IRE provision to be unconstitutional. Back in September of 2015, we talked about the…
House Bill 18 has made it out of committee and is expected to be voted on early next week (Tuesday). This bill would drastically change how injured workers in Pennsylvania would get their medications (and what medications they could get). Basically, the Bill introduces “Evidence-Based Medicine” to PA workers’ compensation…
As we have done in the past, our attorneys will be at the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Conference in Hershey, PA, on June 12th and 13th. This is the one annual program run by the Bureau itself. There is a large attendance by adjusters, risk management and safety officials,…
On this blog we often discuss the beginning and ending of a workers’ compensation case in Pennsylvania. This is a natural, and obvious, area of litigation. However, there is also potential for dispute, and thus, litigation, when an injured worker goes back to work. This is especially true where the…
As attorneys representing the injured worker in Pennsylvania, there is a call we get far too often. It starts with the injured worker telling us that they lost their case before the Workers’ Compensation Judge (WCJ) and need assistance in litigating an appeal before the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (WCAB). …