Under the PA Workers’ Comp Act, generally speaking, a worker is not eligible for Pennsylvania workers’ compensation benefits when he or she is commuting to work. Under the law, the worker is not “in the scope of employment” at that time. One exception to this rule is for “traveling employees,”…
Under the most recent amendments to the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, passed in 1996, once an injured worker in PA has received total disability benefits for 104 weeks, the workers’ comp insurance company can obtain an Impairment Rating Evaluation (IRE). If the work-related injury results in a whole body impairment…
A recent decision by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, Albert Einstein Healthcare v. W.C.A.B. (Stanford), held that an injured worker seeking Pennsylvania workers’ compensation benefits must present expert medical evidence to prove disability. The testimony of the injured worker alone, unless the injury and the disability are obviously connected, will…
Under the PA Workers’ Compensation Act, an injured worker must give his or her employer notice of the injury within 120 days of the injury. If notice is not given within 120 days of the work injury, a workers’ comp claim for the injury will be barred. This issue becomes…
Many times in Pennsylvania workers’ comp cases we see an injured worker devastated by a physical injury. Once a provider for his or her family, the injured worker may find themselves home, unable to work, do any chores around the house or take part in hobbies or pleasurable activities. Frequently,…
Ordinarily, an injured worker in Pennsylvania cannot receive both workers’ compensation total disability benefits and also wages. Generally speaking, if an injured worker in PA has returned to work, he or she is no longer, by definition, “totally disabled.” The injured worker may be entitled to partial workers’ compensation benefits…
Not that long ago, a Pennsylvania workers’ compensation insurance company could terminate the benefits of an injured worker anytime they found a doctor to say the injured worker had fully recovered from his or her work injury. This encouraged the workers’ compensation insurance carriers to file Termination Petition after Termination…
While, in Pennsylvania, an injured worker generally cannot sue his or her employer for causing the injury, the injured worker is free to sue a third party. For example, the injured worker could file an action against a manufacturer of a product which caused the injury, or another driver who…
As a general rule, the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act requires medical providers to submit their bills to the workers’ compensation insurance carrier on the correct forms. Again, the usual rule is that the workers’ comp insurance carrier is not required to pay bills until they are submitted on the proper…
In a previous blog entry, I mentioned the April 28, 2008 decision by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania in Diehl v. WCAB, which greatly limited what a workers’ compensation insurance carrier in Pennsylvania can do with an Impairment Rating Evaluation (IRE). This decision was very favorable to the injured worker.…