An injured worker in Pennsylvania is generally entitled to workers’ compensation benefits when the injured worker is disabled from his or her job as a result of the work injury, unless the loss in earnings is due to the injured worker’s own bad conduct. In these types of cases, the…
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania recently weighed in on the case of Lancaster General Hospital v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Weber-Brown). As our loyal readers may recall, back in 2009, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania granted “specific loss” benefits for the loss of an eye in 2007, despite the onset…
Workers’ comp awards differ greatly based on numerous factors. Salary, severity of injury, type of injury, and permanency of injury all factor into the amount you will receive for your work related injury. It is impossible to state exactly how much you will receive without going through the PA workers…
We have addressed the effect a layoff has on an injured worker in Pennsylvania before. Under the 2005 Supreme Court of Pennsylvania decision in Reifsnyder v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Dana Corp), an injured worker who had been laid off for periods of time before his or her injury receives…
PA Workers’ Compensation Judges (WCJs) are like other employees in many ways. Just like we see turnover in any industry among its work staff, we see WCJs leave the bench for retirement or other opportunities. Recently, we discussed two new WCJs being named to the bench by the Pennsylvania Bureau…
In PA Workers’ Compensation, almost everything has a specific amount of benefit, for a specific period of time. A workers’ comp rate is determined by starting with the Average Weekly Wage (AWW) and using a precise formula. If an injured worker in PA loses a finger, toe, hand, foot, arm…
Not very long ago, this blog expressed our disappointment with the decision rendered by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania in Glaze v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (City of Pittsburgh), where the Court remanded to the Workers’ Compensation Judge (WCJ) for the WCJ to find some amount of a credit for…
Though no formal announcement has been made by the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, we have learned that Holly San Angelo and Lawrence Beck have been named as new Workers’ Compensation Judges in PA. As we have previously mentioned, workers’ comp cases in Pennsylvania are typically held in the County…
As many of our loyal readers know, we occasionally delve into the world of sports for matters that may be of interest to injured workers in Pennsylvania. For example, we have brought up injury problems facing a football player for the Philadelphia Eagles as well as a hockey player for…
As long time readers of our blog know, Utilization Review is the process either party can use to address whether medical treatment for a PA work injury is reasonable or necessary. Though the Courts in Pennsylvania have made it clear that treatment can be reasonable and necessary while merely “palliative”…