On June 30, 2011, Governor Tom Corbett signed House Bill 440, bringing the measure into law. While the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation labelled this a “reform bill,” it appears it will have no real impact on injured workers in PA. Rather, the aim of the new law is to…
One of the ways a workers’ compensation insurance carrier in PA can be relieved of paying workers’ comp benefits to an injured worker in Pennsylvania is by showing that employment is “available” to the injured worker, as described previously in our blog. Prior decisions by both the Supreme Court of…
Under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, when an injured worker in PA is disabled from his or her job due to a work injury, the injured worker is entitled to workers’ compensation wage loss benefits. This rate is based on the earnings the injured worker had prior to the injury.…
When a PA workers’ compensation claim is denied by the insurance carrier, it is up to the injured worker to file a Claim Petition. In litigating a Claim Petition before a Workers’ Compensation Judge (WCJ), the injured worker bears the burden to prove that he or she suffered an injury,…
Cases dealing with benefits stopping in PA workers’ compensation, due an alleged “retirement” of the injured worker, are frequent on our blog. Usually, Pennsylvania Courts are reading the PA Workers’ Compensation Act ever more strictly. A recent case, however, gives hope to the injured worker in Pennsylvania. In Keene v.…
In Pennsylvania workers’ compensation matters, a workers’ comp insurance carrier can only get a “Termination” of benefits when the injured worker is “fully recovered” from his or her injury. This sounds like, and should be, a difficult standard for the insurance carrier to meet. Unfortunately, as happens too often in…
We have already mentioned on a past blog entry that injured workers in Pennsylvania can collect PA workers’ compensation benefits and Social Security Disability benefits at the same time. However, a recent opinion from the United States Tax Court, reported on LawyersUSAOnline.com, reminds us that the receipt of the two…
On many occasions over the years, we have addressed the Utilization Review (UR) process in Pennsylvania workers’ compensation cases. This is the process either party, usually the workers’ comp insurance carrier, uses to obtain a determination as to whether a treatment at issue is “reasonable and necessary” such that the…
While the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act generally precludes an injured worker in PA from suing his or her employer, the injured worker does have the ability to sue a third party, if that party is responsible for the injury. Since workers’ compensation in PA does not provide any payment for…
As noted in a previous blog posting, Glenn C. Neiman, a partner at Brilliant & Neiman LLC, joined the prestigious faculty of Lawline.com in 2008. It was recently announced that his next seminar for Lawline.com will be on changing the description of injury in PA workers’ compensation, a topic which…