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…
Since there is no payment for pain and suffering available in PA workers’ compensation cases, the amount an injured worker receives for wage loss benefits is critical. These wage loss benefits are set by the “Average Weekly Wage” (AWW), which is calculated based on formulas found in the Pennsylvania Workers’…
Under Pennsylvania workers’ compensation law, there are three types of mental injuries. The burden of proof is different depending upon which of these types is involved. A mental injury, resulting from a mental incident, known as a “mental/mental claim,” is the one which generates the most litigation. In this type…
****REVERSED BY SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA ON MAY 25, 2016 – SEE UPDATED BLOG ENTRY***** We have addressed the topic of Impairment Rating Evaluations (IREs) many times in this blog; in addition, we have recently created a page on our website explaining the IRE process in greater detail. As…
When an employee in Pennsylvania suffers a work injury, he or she is entitled to workers’ compensation benefits as long as the wages of the injured worker are reduced due to the effects of the work injury. That certainly sounds like a simple matter, and a reasonable rule, but, as…
There have been several entries on our blog dealing with Impairment Rating Evaluations (IREs). Some deal with the procedure used by workers’ comp insurance carriers to turn the IRE into a change in status, from total disability to partial. Others deal with the magic 50% level that an injured worker…