**Update – Appeal accepted by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania on April 27, 2011 – Stay tuned for more details** Years ago, before the 1996 amendments to the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act (Known as Act 57), a workers’ comp insurance company in PA had to prove that work was actually…
In a previous blog posting, we discussed the case of Armstrong v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board, decided by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania in 2007. This case first allowed a PA workers’ compensation insurance carrier to use a Notice of Denial (NCD) to “accept” a workers’ comp case. As attorneys…
As we have discussed in several previous blog entries, an injury at work in PA must happen in the scope and course of employment to be compensable under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act. Often, this is the issue in dispute when an employee is injured in a parking lot, either…
While there is no minimum time a worker must be employed before the worker qualifies for workers’ compensation coverage in Pennsylvania, the worker must actually be “employed” at the time of the injury. This means there must be both an offer and an acceptance of employment, before the work injury…
“Water on the knee” is one of those phrases we hear that harkens back to years ago, like lumbago (low back pain) or causalgia (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD); now also known as Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)). Simply put, “water on the knee” is swelling (also called “effusion”) of the…
As we have discussed in a previous blog entry, the PA Workers’ Compensation Act requires that a Notice of Ability to Return to Work be served on an injured worker (and his or her attorney), before the workers’ comp insurance carrier can move to modify or suspend benefits. Specifically, the…
As discussed in a previous blog entry, PA workers’ compensation proceedings are usually held in the County in which the injured worker resides. Counties are then grouped by “Districts.” In the State of PA, there are four Districts: Eastern, Southeastern, Central and Western. Hearings for the Eastern District are located…
Generally speaking, when an employee in Pennsylvania is injured while performing the duties of his or her job, the employee is entitled to PA workers’ compensation benefits. One of the exceptions to this rule, however, is when “the injury or death would not have occurred but for the employe’s intoxication.”…
As we mentioned in a previous blog entry, we are excited to sponsor a seminar on Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation, which is free to injured workers. More information can be seen in our ads in many area newspapers, or you can view the ad on www.phillyburbs.com by clicking here. We think…
Representing injured workers in Pennsylvania workers’ compensation cases, we realize how scary and unfamiliar the PA workers’ comp system can be, especially to an injured worker who does not have an attorney representing them. As we try to do from time to time, we are sponsoring a free PA workers’…