Among the benefits available under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act (Act), are “fatal claim” benefits. Since these are only relevant for work accidents which involve the death of a worker, these are not things we like to often see. Unfortunately, sometimes these things do happen, and they are cases which…
Sometimes odd facts in a Pennsylvania workers’ compensation case make for an odd decision. Yet, even then, we can often find something of use in that decision. Seeing how appellate courts approach different situations helps us understand how that may translate to other fact patterns and enable us to better…
What is “medical treatment”? Though most folks know that medical treatment for a work injury is covered under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act (Act), even the courts seem confused as to what constitutes “medical treatment.” In some ways, this issue was recently clarified by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. In…
One of the tools in the arsenal of the workers’ compensation insurance carrier in Pennsylvania, in their fight to take away benefits from injured workers, is the “Labor Market Survey” (LMS), also known as an “Earning Power Assessment” (EPA). Once an injured worker in PA has shown an entitlement to…
Though the phrase “scope and course of employment” does not appear anywhere in the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, this is a frequent issue involved with appellate cases. After all, a work injury is only compensable if one was performing his or her job at the time of the injury. This…
The Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act sets forth that medical treatment related to a work injury is to be paid for by the workers’ comp insurance carrier (provided the treatment is reasonable and necessary). If there is a dispute as to whether treatment is related to a work injury, a petition…
Complicated fact patterns tend to make for complicated blog entries. A recent decision by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania in McNeil v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Department of Corrections, SCI-Graterford) is one of these situations, but is valuable for the lessons contained within. In that case the injured worker (“Claimant”)…
Of course, no injured worker is trying to lose his or her Pennsylvania workers’ compensation benefits. But, not being properly advised by an attorney who is certified as a specialist in PA workers’ compensation law can lead to that very result. Take the cautionary tale of Mr. Torijano, a plumber’s…
On our website, we have discussed the various types of benefits available under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act (Act). One of these types of benefits is known as “specific loss.” This is the type of benefit available when a worker loses the use of a body part for “all practice…
We have discussed Section 204(a) of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act (Act) on this blog in the past. This is the provision of the Act that provides a credit to the workers’ comp insurance carrier for certain other benefits an injured worker might receive, such as pension, social security retirement,…