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…
Ordinarily, workers’ compensation in Pennsylvania is an “exclusive remedy.” That means, the typical injured worker in PA cannot sue anyone for his or her injuries, and only has benefits under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act (Act) available. There are exceptions when the injury was caused by the negligence of a…
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,…
One of the more disputed areas of workers’ compensation in PA, and therefore the source of many appellate decisions, is whether an employee is injured in the scope and course of his or her employment. We have addressed scope and course of employment many times on this blog. Recently, another…
We have discussed the Notice of Temporary Compensation Payable (NTCP or TNCP) on this blog in the past. This is a tool a Pennsylvania workers’ compensation insurance carrier can use if it is still investigating and unsure whether to formally accept liability for a work injury in PA (instead of…
The fallout from the decision rendered by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in the Protz case is only just beginning. Since this decision will change how workers’ compensation cases are handled in PA (at least for the moment), the PA Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has now issued a statement on…
We have written volumes about the Impairment Rating Evaluation (IRE) process. It would now appear all of those words just became moot with the decision rendered by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, which ruled the entire IRE provision to be unconstitutional. Back in September of 2015, we talked about the…
House Bill 18 has made it out of committee and is expected to be voted on early next week (Tuesday). This bill would drastically change how injured workers in Pennsylvania would get their medications (and what medications they could get). Basically, the Bill introduces “Evidence-Based Medicine” to PA workers’ compensation…