Articles Posted in Worker Comp Generally

The Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has just announced that the maximum workers’ compensation rate for injuries suffered in 2015 will be $951.00 per week. This is an increase over the $932.00 for injuries suffered in 2014. While we applaud the increase, we continue to be mindful of the general unfairness that workers’ comp benefits in PA are calculated as of the date of injury . . . and then forever fixed at that level. Unfortunately, some work injuries are very severe and require the injured worker to be on workers’ compensation for years. We long for the day when cost-of-living adjustments are made, as they are in Social Security Disability. It seems only the fair way to handle long term, chronic, injuries.

The workers’ compensation rate calculation can be a complicated process, depending on the situation. Generally speaking, the wages of the injured worker from the day before the injury going back one year are gathered. We divide this into four quarters, then take the average of the highest three quarters. This is the “Average Weekly Wage” (AWW). Depending on the amount, the workers’ comp rate is usually 2/3 of the AWW, though that can vary. For lower wages, the rate can be as high as 90% of the AWW. For those workers above the maximum compensation rate, the percentage can be less than 2/3.

Making sure the AWW is properly calculated, to be sure you are getting the fullest extent of compensation possible, is yet another reason to come to an attorney certified as a specialist in workers’ compensation law, as are the attorneys at Brilliant & Neiman LLC.

One of the few recent laws passed in Pennsylvania which helped injured workers was the creation of the Uninsured Employers Guaranty Fund (UEGF). This fund was designed to be used in cases where the injured worker was employed by someone who (in direct violation of PA law) failed to carry workers’ compensation insurance coverage. The UEGF was designed to provide medical treatment, and lost wages, to those workers who, under the previous system, would be left with no recourse. This, of course, was a saving grace which embodied the supposed “humanitarian objectives” of Pennsylvania’s Workers’ Compensation Act.

Because the problem of uninsured employers in PA is so prevalent, funds allocated to the UEGF have exhausted at a faster pace than was budgeted. The legislature was then left to decide how best to fix the problem. In an astonishing declaration of indifference to injured workers throughout the State, the Pennsylvania Senate created Senate Bill 1195. Rather than simply replenish the UEGF, and allow injured workers to receive benefits they desperately need, the Senate has elected to simply gut the UEGF to reduce the number of successful claims. This is a truly sad decision being made by those who are supposed to represent us all.

Instead of coming down harder on uninsured employers, and simply reducing claims by reducing the true offenders, the Senate has decided the burden should fall on the injured workers, who are only the innocent victims. First, the worker gets injured, then they get victimized by their employer having no insurance (in violation of Pennsylvania law). It is a double punishment that simply is neither fair nor just.

As scheduled, the Workers’ Compensation Automation and Integration System (WCAIS) went live for the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation on September 9, 2013. Having been in on the ground floor of this massive undertaking, we watched this transition with great interest. While we are excited with the possibilities this new system will offer, the change in systems did not start without some issues.

For several days after the launch, the system was shut down. Since the previous system had been stopped, in anticipation of WCAIS starting, this caused the workers’ comp system in PA to grind to a halt. Fortunately, WCAIS does appear to now be functioning (in fact, today we received our first Notices of Hearing using the system). Whether the system is fully functional is unknown to us.

Problems do remain to be addressed. One Workers’ Compensation Judge (WCJ) told us that there is no functioning scanner in that workers’ compensation hearing office. This means that no evidence received by a WCJ in that office can be entered into the system. A WCJ in another hearing office advised parties to use bench orders when pursuing a Compromise & Release (settlement), as that WCJ was not sure when the system would allow WCJs to issue decisions through WCAIS.