When a worker is injured in Pennsylvania, he or she is generally entitled to workers’ compensation benefits when wages are lost due to the injury. Whether this loss in wages is actually due to the injury is a point often litigated. The issue can be particularly difficult when the injured…
Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Lawyer Blog
Second Work-Related Injury in PA Does Not Add Second Period of Partial Disability
While there is no limit to the period of time an injured worker in Pennsylvania can receive workers’ compensation benefits for total disability, the same is not true for partial disability. In PA, an injured worker can receive a maximum of 500 weeks of partial disability. After that time, even…
IRE in PA Workers’ Comp Cannot Be Challenged on Validity After Appeal Period of Notice of Change Expires
In PA workers’ compensation, there is no limit to how long an injured worker can receive total disability benefits. Once an injured worker receives total disability benefits for a period of 104 weeks, however, the workers’ comp insurance company can request the injured worker attend an Impairment Rating Evaluation (IRE).…
Pain Relief May Soon Get Safer and Easier
Handling Pennsylvania workers’ compensation cases, we see a wide variety of work injuries. From problems with the neck and the back, to shoulders, elbows, knees, hands and everywhere in between. The one constant, though, is pain. Whether the injured worker has a herniated disc in the back, a broken arm,…
Buck County Bar Association Workers’ Compensation Section Names Glenn Neiman Co-Chair
In a meeting held yesterday in Doylestown, PA, the Bucks County Bar Association Workers’ Compensation Section named Glenn C. Neiman, a partner at Brilliant & Neiman LLC, as Co-Chair of the Section. The position is a two year term, slated to begin in January 2010. Traditionally, the Chair of the…
Injured Worker Testimony of Back Pain Not Enough for Workers’ Compensation Case in PA
Who better than the injured worker to know the pain that person is feeling? At this point in medical science, we do not have a “pain meter.” Doctors can examine a person, and obtain diagnostic testing, such as x-ray, MRI and CT scan, but, ultimately, doctors can only tell us…
PA Workers’ Comp Insurer Required to Pay for Additional Modifications to Home of Worker Paralyzed in Work Injury
Injured workers in Pennsylvania are entitled to payment of wage loss benefits, as well as payment for medical treatment related to the work injury. The term “medical treatment” in PA is defined broadly. It includes obvious items, such as an MRI or x-ray, medications, doctor visits and surgery, but it…
PA Workers’ Comp Settlement Moves Faster With Resolution Court
The Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act was last amended (at least in a significant way) by Act 147 in late 2006. As noted in a previous blog entry, these changes were very beneficial to the injured worker in PA. These amendments included the Uninsured Employers Guaranty Fund (to give PA injured…
Prescription Pain Medication: Facts and Myths
In Pennsylvania workers’ compensation, we see all sorts of injuries. Everything from a torn rotator cuff in the shoulder, to an ACL tear in the knee, to an amputation of a finger or toe, to a herniated disc in the neck or back – and everything in between. One thing…
Notice of Compensation Payable Can be Amended in PA Workers’ Comp Without Petition
As we discussed in a previous blog entry, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania accepted review of the Cinram Manufacturing v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Hill) case. This case dealt with how one can change or amend a Notice of Compensation Payable (NCP) under the PA Workers’ Compensation Act. Yesterday, the…