Recently, we posted a blog entry on the case of City of Philadelphia v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Butler), decided by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania on December 16, 2010. In this opinion, the Court allowed a suspension or termination of workers’ compensation benefits to take place on a date…
As attorneys who limit their practice to representing people who have been injured at work in PA, we often have the misfortune to see a potential new client who has already lost his or her case with another attorney. Previously, in a blog entry, we have discussed the appeals process…
Since our entire practice is limited to representing injured workers in PA workers’ compensation cases, we occasionally get a call from an injured worker who has already lost their case with another attorney, and wanting us to handle an appeal. Unfortunately, frequently, there is nothing we can do to help…
We have discussed psychological injuries in the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation system in previous blog entries. We have even discussed our own cases in this area. The theme throughout this aspect of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act is the requirement that the psychological injury be caused by “abnormal working conditions.” Whether…
**Update – This opinion was vacated (withdrawn) by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania on February 24, 2011. The en banc (all of the Judges) Court will review the case and issue a new decision** Under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, an employer or, more likely, workers’ compensation insurance carrier, has…
Under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, to be eligible for PA workers’ comp benefits, the disabled person must be an “employee.” Often, this is obvious and not even in question. There are times, however, when a case turns on whether, in fact, the injured person was truly an “employee.” We…
In PA workers’ comp, when an injured worker returns to employment, there is a change in the workers’ compensation benefits he or she receives. If the injured worker is again earning the wages he or she earned before the work injury, then workers’ comp benefits are stopped completely (“suspended”). If…
As noted in the previous blog posting, the PA Workers’ Compensation Act mandates that an Impairment Rating Evaluation (IRE) must be performed using the “most recent edition” of the American Medical Association’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment. The most recent edition is the Sixth Edition, published around January…
It is funny how, after relatively few PA workers’ compensation hearing loss cases were decided by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, now, all of a sudden, it seems like every case decided by the Court is on this issue. In our previous blog post, we mentioned that an injured worker…
Though, generally speaking, Pennsylvania’s workers’ compensation system is based purely on wage loss, there are exceptions to the rule. With most work-related injuries in PA, workers’ comp is paid only if the injured worker is disabled from his or her job by the work injury. One large exception is the…