You are hurt at work. What do you do now? Keep in mind that not every injury is a sudden event, like injuring your low back picking up a box or falling down steps at work. Some injuries are harder to determine and understand, even for the person who is…
Since the 1996 changes to the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act (“Act”) took place, workers’ comp insurance carriers have had the ability to use Labor Market Surveys [LMS] (also known as Earning Power Assessments [EPA]) to reduce or stop the payment of workers’ compensation benefits. We have previously addressed the “prerequisite”…
Under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, an injured worker has 120 days to provide notice of a work injury to his or her employer. If notice is not given within this time, a Claim Petition may be barred. The time period for giving notice can be extended where the work…
When a person is injured at work in Pennsylvania, and the injury is not accepted by the workers’ compensation insurance carrier, the injured worker must file a Claim Petition to seek benefits. Once the Claim Petition is filed, the insurance carrier has 20 days to file an Answer, responding to…
To prevail in a PA workers’ compensation case, typically the successful party presents the testimony of a medical expert, whose opinion is accepted by a Workers’ Compensation Judge (WCJ). This expert opinion must be “to a reasonable degree of medical certainty.” What is encompassed by those words is a bit…
There are several types of benefits which can be received by an injured worker in Pennsylvania. A comprehensive review of these benefits can be seen here on our website. One of those benefits is called “specific loss,” which contains things like loss of use of a body part and disfigurement…
When an employee in Pennsylvania gets injured, the PA Workers’ Compensation Act allots the workers’ compensation insurance carrier 21 days to investigate and accept or deny the claim. If 21 days is not sufficient, the insurance carrier can opt to issue a Notice of Temporary Compensation Payable (NTCP or TNCP),…
An injured worker in PA is entitled to certain benefits under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act. We discuss these benefits in great detail here, on our website. Basically, these benefits include wage loss (called “indemnity”), medical, “specific loss” and fatal claim benefits. Given some pending legislation, we will be discussing…
On June 1, 2023 and June 2, 2023, the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation will hold its 22nd annual “Workers’ Compensation Conference.” Here, attorneys, Workers’ Compensation Judges (WCJs), employer representatives, adjusters, risk management/safety employees and others who work in the world of workers’ comp from across the entire State of…
What if an injured worker in Pennsylvanian is employed by a company who (in direct violation of PA law) fails to carry workers’ compensation insurance? Back in the old days, the injured worker, through no fault of his or her own, would be stuck with whatever assets the employer had. …