The Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has announced that The Honorable Ashley Drinkwine will be a new Workers Compensation Judge (WCJ) assigned to the Philadelphia Workers’ Compensation Hearing Office. Judge Drinkwine will be taking the place of Judge Scott Olin, who has retired after many successful years on the bench. …
We apologize for having such infrequent posts these past several months. Like much of society, things have slowed down since the pandemic arrived. There seem to be fewer appellate decisions coming down, and those that do seem more frequently to be unreported decisions. This makes it more difficult to find…
It is a frequent call we receive. “My check is late.” Nobody wants to deal with a delay in getting their check, especially around the holidays. Indeed, getting a check late means more than just difficulty in holiday shopping – it means late rent, mortgage payments, phone bills, credit card…
As we noted in our June 2020 update, the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation began to (technically) allow limited in-person hearings, in counties which have been declared to be in the “Green” phase by Governor Wolf. This announcement was made on June 12, 2020, to take effect June 19, 2020. …
As more counties across Pennsylvania reach the “Green” phase in the COVID-19 recovery process, attorneys involved in the PA workers’ compensation process were curious to know how this will impact the operations of the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. Yesterday, we were advised by the Bureau that, “(t)he designation of counties…
Yesterday, our attorneys participated in a webinar dealing with the continuing impact the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) is having on the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation system. We have already participated in hearings using Skype for Business, and understand some Workers’ Compensation Judges (WCJs) are experimenting with the WebX platform. Zoom had been…
Today, our attorneys participated in a conference call (so as to maintain social distancing) with workers’ compensation attorneys across the State of Pennsylvania, as well as lobbyists, regarding the status of the workers’ comp system in PA as we all deal with the Coronavirus (COVID-19). We discussed pending legislation in…
As we have previously discussed, within the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, there lies a trap for unwary injured workers. Actually, there are many traps in the Act, but for today, we’ll just deal with this one. When a workers’ comp insurance carrier thinks (and this is a critical word) that…
We are all struggling through an unprecedented time due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). This global pandemic has infected thousands, and forced the sheltering of millions and closure of businesses across the world (including our offices). In Pennsylvania, hundreds have already been infected, with experts predicting the spread to get…
By now, most Pennsylvanians have heard that Governor Tom Wolf has ordered all non-life-sustaining businesses in PA to close their physical locations, as of 8:00 p.m. on March 19, 2020. Along with this announcement, the Governor’s office released a list of what businesses qualify as “life-sustaining.” Law firms are specifically…