As we discussed in a previous blog entry, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania accepted review of the Cinram Manufacturing v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Hill) case. This case dealt with how one can change or amend a Notice of Compensation Payable (NCP) under the PA Workers’ Compensation Act. Yesterday, the…
Ordinarily, to suspend (or even modify) workers’ compensation benefits to an injured worker in PA, the workers’ compensation insurance carrier must show a change of medical condition and prove work is available within the injured worker’s physical capabilities [Benefits can be suspended for other reasons, but this is the most…
To obtain workers’ compensation benefits in PA, the worker must be injured while in the scope and course of his or her employment. Fortunately, PA law does not require that a worker be chained to his or her desk, or work area, the entire day. Pennsylvania law recognizes that “small…
**Update – Decision of the Commonwealth Court of PA REVERSED by Supreme Court of Pennsylvania on July 20, 2011 – See blog entry of August 2, 2011** When a worker gets hurt at work in PA, the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act requires that the employer be notified of the injury…
In PA, when a workers’ compensation insurance carrier wants to challenge whether medical treatment is reasonable or necessary, the insurance carrier can request Utilization Review (UR). In such a case, the PA Bureau of Workers’ Compensation assigns the UR Request to a Utilization Review Organization (URO). The URO then obtains…
When a work injury is denied by the workers’ compensation insurance carrier in PA, the injured worker must file a Claim Petition with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. The Claim Petition is then litigated before a Workers’ Compensation Judge (WCJ). To win a Claim Petition, usually the injured worker…
Typically, under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, the benefits of an injured worker are reduced based on any earnings the injured worker has after his or her injury. Specifically, the injured worker receives two-thirds of the difference between the pre-injury earnings and the post-injury earnings (up to a statutory maximum).…
Under Section 204(a) of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, a workers’ comp insurance company in PA is entitled to an offset when an injured worker receives Social Security Retirement Benefits (SSR). This is one of the provisions in the Act that seems most unfair to us attorneys who represent injured…
As discussed in previous blog entries, the case of Diehl v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board is of great importance in determining whether it matters when a workers’ compensation insurance carrier in Pennsylvania requests an Impairment Rating Evaluation (IRE) within 60 days of the expiration of 104 weeks of total disability.…
One of the major changes in the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, which was enacted in the 1996 amendments, is the creation of the Impairment Rating Evaluation (IRE). Under this concept, once an injured worker receives 104 weeks of temporary total disability benefits, the workers’ comp insurance company has the right…