Sometimes the issue is a workers’ compensation case in Pennsylvania is a very straightforward one. For example, is interest on past due workers’ compensation benefits in PA to be calculated using simple interest or compound interest? This was the issue faced by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania in Tobler v.…
One of the more common areas of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act (Act) seen in appellate cases is the issue of whether an injured worker was in the scope and course of his or her employment at the time of the injury. This is often a very fact-specific inquiry. Recently,…
Once PA workers’ compensation benefits are modified or suspended, such as by the injured worker resuming gainful employment, the injured worker has at least 500 weeks within which he or she can reinstate total disability benefits (if the disability related to the injury recurs). If the benefits had been modified…
******************REVERSED BY SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA – SEE BLOG ENTRY 1/20/17******************** One of the big changes to the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act in the overhaul of 1996 was the introduction of the Impairment Rating Evaluation (IRE). This has become such a significant part of the Act that our website has…
We rarely discuss Pennsylvania appellate cases other than those directly involving workers’ compensation. However, a recent unemployment compensation case touches on the workers’ compensation process, and may be of interest to our readers. The case is Paolucci v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, recently decided by the Commonwealth Court of…
An often litigated provision within the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act (Act) is the 1996 addition, which provides workers’ comp insurance carriers with an ability to change “total” disability status to that of “partial” disability. This is known as the Impairment Rating Evaluation (IRE) process. The significance of such a change…
We have been following the case of School District of Philadelphia v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Hilton) through the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania decision, and into the Supreme Court of PA. As you might recall, this case deals with whether a Notice of Ability to Return to Work must be…
As we have discussed in the past, an injured worker in Pennsylvania is not eligible for workers’ compensation wage loss benefits if he or she is “incarcerated after a conviction.” That same phrase also appears in the Unemployment Compensation Law, for folks who lose their jobs through no fault of…
Often, workers’ compensation cases that are litigated through Pennsylvania’s appellate courts have multiple issues. We bloggers always appreciate when the courts address multiple issues in a single decision. It lets us discuss more than one issue in a blog entry, making a more efficient experience for our loyal readers. A…
There is no question that an aggravation of a pre-existing condition is considered a new injury in Pennsylvania, and can be the basis for an award of workers’ comp benefits. However, a dispute which can arise in these kinds of cases is whether ongoing effects or limitations are from the…