As attorneys who represent injured workers across the great State of Pennsylvania, we are all too aware that our clients who rely on the US Postal Service for the delivery of their workers’ compensation checks can occasionally find their checks lost or delayed in transit. Since mortgage companies, landlords, car financers, grocery stores and other lenders do not want to hear about delays in the mail, injured workers too often have to deal with the stress of a late check on top of the stress they already feel from the work injury.
Fortunately, those times may be changing! We just learned that Senate Bill 1232 passed the PA House unanimously, and will now move to the Senate for consideration. Should this Bill become law, injured workers all across Pennsylvania would be able to have their workers’ compensation benefits delivered by direct deposit.
This will not stop the occasional “computer issue” which for some reason causes an injured worker to “fall off the system,” but at least it can stop the annoyance of not knowing whether the check was actually mailed or not. We will also be aware of the issue sooner and can move to have it quickly resolved.
We applaud the Pennsylvania House for trying to make things a bit easier for injured workers in PA. We hope the Senate feels the same, and moves the Bill toward completion!