In recent years, the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has been more transparent with the hiring of new Workers’ Compensation Judges (WCJs). While we generally have to rely on word of mouth for the retirement or transfer of a WCJ (to a different workers’ comp hearing office), we can usually…
Nearly two full years after COVID-19 briefly shut down the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation system, and then created a dramatic shift in how litigation was done, the PA Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has announced measures to return to some level of our prior (the old “normal”) operation. It has been since…
A topic often litigated in the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation system is whether an injured worker was within the scope and course of his or her employment at the time of the incident. Accordingly, this is a topic that is no stranger to this blog. Though this area continues to depend…
A recent case in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania touched on two interesting aspects of the PA workers’ compensation system. First, the Court dealt with the offset for Social Security Old Age benefits (personally, I find “Social Security Retirement” benefits a bit less offensive), under Section 204(a) of the Pennsylvania…
One of the most unfair aspects of Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation has always been how injured workers must defend petitions which address only medical benefits. While injured workers receiving total disability benefits can easily retain an attorney (paying a portion, usually 20%, of such benefits as the fee), injured workers who…
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry recently announced that the “statewide average weekly wage” (SAWW) for 2022 will be $1,205.00. This represents a 6.6% increase over the SAWW for 2021 of $1,130.00. Under the PA Workers’ Compensation Act, the SAWW represents the maximum workers’ compensation rate which can be…
Back in July, 2019, we blogged, unhappily, about the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania decision in Peters v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Cintas Corporation). This decision found a traveling employee to not be in the scope and course of his employment when he was injured in a motor vehicle accident after…
One frequently litigated part of PA workers’ compensation law is whether an injured worker is within the “scope and course” of his or her employment at the time of the injury. Often, this question is dealing with a situation where an employee is injured just before or after his or…
As we have noted previously, all hearings in Pennsylvania workers’ compensation matters have been held virtually, either by telephone or video, since last Spring. We have now been told that the hearing offices within the PA Bureau of Workers’ Compensation will be reopening as of August 16, 2021. However, this…
Most employees in PA are covered by the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act. This is a topic that has been mentioned previously in this blog. However, that thought begs the question – who is actually an “employee”? This can be a complicated topic and analysis, where one must differentiate the “employee”…