Articles Posted in Firm News

Though it caused our attorneys to be out of town for a couple of days earlier this week, Brilliant & Neiman LLC felt it important that our attorneys attend the annual Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Annual Conference in Hershey. This two-day seminar allowed our attorneys to discuss the law with other attorneys across the State of Pennsylvania, as well as with many Workers’ Compensation Judges (WCJs).

Topics that were covered included an update on recent cases coming through the Pennsylvania appellate courts, some information on traumatic brain injuries, a status of pain management treatment options and goals, the impact of social media on a workers’ compensation case, how employment laws interact with workers’ compensation cases, and how different WCJs run their practices and procedures.

While we hate to be unavailable to our clients for a two-day period, the exposure and information obtained by our attorneys is invaluable, and allows us to far better serve them.

Recently, we attended a seminar to be briefed on changes in the rules, formally known as the Special Rules of Administrative Practice and Procedure before Workers’ Compensation Judges or the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (each has a separate set of rules). Since our practice is limited to representing injured workers in Pennsylvania workers’ compensation cases, it is critical that we be aware of all aspects of the system.

Perhaps it would be wise first to understand where the Rules of Administrative Practice and Procedure fit into the system. As we have mentioned before in this blog, workers’ compensation laws vary widely from State to State. Here, the law starts with the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, which was created back in 1915 and amended many times since. This law, and its amendments, were written and enacted by the PA legislature. The law is then interpreted by the appellate courts in Pennsylvania. The process by which we litigate these cases, through the Workers Compensation Judge (WCJ) and Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (WCAB), are dictated by these Rules of Administrative Practice and Procedure.

Included in the changes to the Rules of Administrative Practice and Procedure before Workers’ Compensation Judges are how cases are litigated against the Uninsured Employers’ Guaranty Fund (UEGF), the fund that is available when an employer fails to carry PA workers’ comp insurance. There were also changes or amendments to what must be contained within Stipulations of Fact, to the timing of the serving of subpoenas, to the availability of a motion like a Motion for Summary Judgment (as in civil law), and changes to initial hearing procedures and pleadings.

We are so honored to have received word from LexisNexis that our blog has been selected as one of the Top Blogs for Workers’ Compensation and Workplace Issues for 2014. This is the fifth consecutive year we have received this recognition, the sixth time in total. We really are inspired by receiving such acknowledgement from a well-known national source like LexisNexis. We will work hard in the coming year, to show everyone that we are worthy of this award. We will try to continue to keep everyone informed about matters relevant to the injured worker, and those who deal with such cases, in Pennsylvania.

Recently, we mentioned exciting news coming for Brilliant & Neiman LLC. We now proudly announce (drum roll, please) that Brilliant & Neiman LLC has a new headquarters. We will now have our main office at 260 West Street Road, in Warminster, PA. Our main telephone number will remain 215-638-7500, but items mailed to our office should now be sent to our new location. We believe this will help us serve the needs of injured workers in Central and Upper Bucks County, as well as parts of Eastern Montgomery County.

We will still be keeping our present office in Trevose, near Northeast Philadelphia and Lower Bucks County, as well as our office in Allentown, serving the Lehigh Valley, Easton and Bethlehem areas. With the addition of this new location, we think we will be better able to handle the cases of injured workers throughout Southeastern and Central Pennsylvania.

Stay tuned to this blog for the scheduling of an open house, or perhaps a seminar, to welcome folks to our new home. Our offices will be closed on Friday, October 31, 2014, so that we can relocate our headquarters to our new building.

You may have noticed the blog being a little more quiet this month. That is mostly due to the absence of cases from the Pennsylvania appellate courts dealing with PA workers’ compensation issues. However, it is also due in part to some things happening with the firm. While we cannot make any announcements yet, we hope to soon share the news. We think you will agree that this new development will help Brilliant & Neiman LLC help serve the needs of injured workers throughout Southeast and Central Pennsylvania even better! Stay tuned for more news coming soon.

Last night, attorneys Dina Brilliant and Glenn Neiman were guest speakers on the television show hosted by Injured Workers of PA on Berks County Television. Prior to addressing the specific topic of the show, “The Most Frequently Asked Questions We Hear,” the two spoke a little about the prospective legislation which would tax many legal services in PA, including contingent fee agreements in Pennsylvania workers’ compensation matters (Senate Bill 76).

After dealing with this “Legislative Alert,” the two addressed such questions as:

“Can I get workers’ compensation benefits in Pennsylvania if I am not legally able to work in this Country?”

On Friday, January 24, 2014, our offices will be closed for part of the day so our attorneys, and our staff, can attend a seminar regarding the usage of the new computer system recently installed for the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. Called the WCAIS system, this program went live back in September.

Though we were involved in the early testing of the WCAIS system, each day has brought changes to the new program. To best handle our cases with the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, we felt it important that we, and our staff, attend a seminar held to review the current status of WCAIS, and how best to use the system. The seminar is scheduled to have Hon. Elizabeth A. Crum, Director, Workers’ Compensation Office of Adjudication in Harrisburg, Hon. Susan B. Caravaggio, Central District Judge Manager for the Workers’ Compensation Office of Adjudication, and three of the lead programmers who worked on, and refined, the system.

While we apologize for any inconvenience caused by us closing the firm, we believe our attendance at this seminar this will better enable us to represent injured workers throughout Southeastern and Central Pennsylvania.

When we were selected last year by LexisNexis as one of the Top 25 Blogs for Workers’ Compensation and Workplace Issues for 2012, it was our fourth such honor in the past five years. We wanted to make sure that we continued to keep our blog at this high level, to be worthy of the praise we were given. Over the course of 2013, we have strived to provide information to the general public, to help injured workers, especially those in Pennsylvania. We wanted to be a resource people could trust and rely upon.

To our delight, we have once again been selected by LexisNexis as one of the Top 25 Blogs for Workers’ Compensation and Workplace Issues for 2013. We are humbled to now be a five-time recipient of such a high honor from an esteemed source. While we certainly do not produce our blog for such awards, we do greatly appreciate being recognized for our efforts.

As we have over the past several years, we will work hard in 2014 to continue to keep the same level of service to the public, and make sure that we remain worthy of the honor we have received.

We at Brilliant & Neiman LLC are honored to announce that the Small Business Institute for Excellence in Commerce (SBIEC) has awarded our firm with the 2013 Pennsylvania Excellence Award. According to the press release:

“Each year the SBIEC conducts business surveys and industry research to identify companies that have achieved demonstrable success in their local business environment and industry category. They are recognized as having enhanced the commitment and contribution of small businesses through service to their customers and community. Small businesses of this caliber enhance the consumer driven stature that Pennsylvania is renowned for”.

We are obviously humbled and honored by being selected for this award, and we strive to serve our clients at the highest level every day, to make sure we are worthy of such recognition. It is this kind of recognition which reinforces our decision, from our firm’s creation, to limit our practice to simply representing injured workers in Pennsylvania workers’ compensation matters.

As we mentioned before, both of the partners of Brilliant & Neiman LLC, Dina Brilliant and Glenn Neiman, were invited to appear on a television show hosted by Injured Workers of Pennsylvania. This show was aired live on August 19, 2013, and broadcast throughout the Berks County region of PA. The website for Berks County Television has a copy of the show in its archives, and it can be viewed on the internet by clicking here.

We at Brilliant & Neiman LLC thank Injured Workers of Pennsylvania for giving us this opportunity to speak to the public on issues regarding workers’ compensation in Pennsylvania. The primary topic was the status of House Bill 1636, which would eliminate choice of doctor for all injured workers in Pennsylvania. One of the jobs we, as attorneys representing injured workers, have is to educate the public, so injured workers know their rights under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act.

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