According to a memo released by Alfonso Frioni, Jr., Esquire, Chairman of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (WCAB), Commissioner Susan M. McDermott has decided to retire after spending over twenty years on the WCAB, including a stint as the very first female Chairperson of the WCAB. The entire text of the memo is:
“On behalf of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board, we extend our special thanks and congratulations to Commissioner Susan M. McDermott on her retirement from the Board.
Commissioner McDermott was appointed to the Appeal Board by Governor Tom Ridge in 1996, serving over twenty years until her recent retirement in January 2017. Susan was one of the first two women appointed to the Board in its one-hundred-year history, and was the very first woman Chairperson of the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board serving from 1996 to 2010. Susan’s contributions to the professionalism of the Board were extensive with her instituting many of the Board’s internal operating procedures, particularly with regard to the circulation of opinions, adopted from The Commonwealth Court.
Commissioner McDermott is a valued, learned, and consummate professional whose dedication will be sincerely missed by her fellow Commissioners, Judges, and colleagues within the Workers’ Compensation Bar. Congratulations and happiness are extended to Susan and her husband, Jamie McDermott, for a well-deserved retirement!”
We join with Chairman Frioni in congratulating Commissioner McDermott on her retirement, and wishing her well in her future endeavors.