Under Section 204(a) of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, a workers’ comp insurance company in PA is entitled to an offset when an injured worker receives Social Security Retirement Benefits (SSR). This is one of the provisions in the Act that seems most unfair to us attorneys who represent injured…
With the dangers of Swine Flu on the minds of everyone, but perhaps especially the minds of those workers in the healthcare industry, this article from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) may be of interest. Ironically, this article was posted on March 31, 2008, long before the current Swine…
As discussed in previous blog entries, the case of Diehl v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board is of great importance in determining whether it matters when a workers’ compensation insurance carrier in Pennsylvania requests an Impairment Rating Evaluation (IRE) within 60 days of the expiration of 104 weeks of total disability.…
One of the major changes in the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, which was enacted in the 1996 amendments, is the creation of the Impairment Rating Evaluation (IRE). Under this concept, once an injured worker receives 104 weeks of temporary total disability benefits, the workers’ comp insurance company has the right…
Under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, an insurance carrier can stop paying benefits to an injured worker who is “incarcerated after a conviction.” The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania recently emphasized that there must be a conviction before workers’ compensation benefits can be suspended. In Rogele Inc.v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board…
An article in the New York Times, talking about how insurance company’s “Independent Medical Examiners” (IME) may not be acting truthfully, hit home to me. Though the article deals specifically with New York workers’ comp, their system is close enough to Pennsylvania’s that comparisons are valid. While I urge folks…
In Liveringhouse v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board, decided on March 19, 2009, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania reversed the decision of a Workers’ Compensation Judge (WCJ), which denied claimant’s Petition to Review. In this case, the injured worker filed her Petition to Review to add carpal tunnel syndrome to her…
According to a recent article in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, physical therapy, combined with anti-inflammatory medication, is the most effective treatment for low back pain caused by degenerative disc disease. As many injured workers know, one can have degenerative changes in their lumbar spine without…
Ordinarily in a Pennsylvania workers’ compensation case, litigation costs incurred by an injured worker (or his or her lawyer) are reimbursed by the PA workers’ comp insurance carrier if the injured worker was successful “in whole or in part.” This is a very important concept; if claimant attorneys cannot get…
Under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, an injured worker is generally covered for all of the effects of the work injury. Things that would not have happened “but for” the work injury often can be included in the workers’ compensation case. Thus, typically, if an injured worker in PA has…