Over the past several years, PA has legalized the use of medical marijuana. Given the current difficulties in dealing with the opioid epidemic, this would seem to be a reasonable tool to help injured workers (and anyone else suffering from chronic pain) deal with their conditions without the use of…
Under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, once an injured worker establishes that he or she has suffered a work-related injury, benefits continue until something happens. That “something” may be the injured worker returning to gainful employment, a doctor finding the injured worker fully recovered, or another change in situation. But,…
One of the pitfalls in the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation system is the concept of “withdrawal from the labor market.” Without intending to do anything but receive additional income, an injured worker in PA can easily cause his or her workers’ compensation benefits to stop accidentally. This is one of the…
A topic often litigated in the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation system is whether an injured worker was within the scope and course of his or her employment at the time of the incident. Accordingly, this is a topic that is no stranger to this blog. Though this area continues to depend…
A recent case in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania touched on two interesting aspects of the PA workers’ compensation system. First, the Court dealt with the offset for Social Security Old Age benefits (personally, I find “Social Security Retirement” benefits a bit less offensive), under Section 204(a) of the Pennsylvania…
One of the most unfair aspects of Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation has always been how injured workers must defend petitions which address only medical benefits. While injured workers receiving total disability benefits can easily retain an attorney (paying a portion, usually 20%, of such benefits as the fee), injured workers who…
Back in July, 2019, we blogged, unhappily, about the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania decision in Peters v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Cintas Corporation). This decision found a traveling employee to not be in the scope and course of his employment when he was injured in a motor vehicle accident after…
One frequently litigated part of PA workers’ compensation law is whether an injured worker is within the “scope and course” of his or her employment at the time of the injury. Often, this question is dealing with a situation where an employee is injured just before or after his or…
Most employees in PA are covered by the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act. This is a topic that has been mentioned previously in this blog. However, that thought begs the question – who is actually an “employee”? This can be a complicated topic and analysis, where one must differentiate the “employee”…
As we have discussed in the past, the assessment of unreasonable contest attorney fees is a rare finding in PA workers’ compensation. This is when the workers’ comp insurance carrier is ordered to pay the fees of the injured worker’s attorney. Even on those unusual occasions when a Workers’ Compensation…