What happens when an injured worker in Pennsylvania is released by his or her doctor to return to work, without restriction, but the injured worker has no job waiting for him or her? Recently, the Commonwealth Court of PA answered this question and put a smile on the face of…
Section 204(a) of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act entitles workers’ comp insurance carriers to an offset if the injured worker receives unemployment compensation benefits, Social Security Retirement benefits, severance benefits or pension benefits. Most of these benefits, and their offsets, are easily calculated. However, when one gets into the area…
As you may recall, in a recent blog entry, we mentioned the case of PGW v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Amodei). This was the case where the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania stated, unequivocally, that credit against pension benefits in PA workers’ comp is to be done on the net amount…
Ordinarily, when an injured worker in Pennsylvania has his or her workers’ compensation benefits modified or suspended, such as by a return to work, having the benefits reinstated to total disability is not difficult provided that the loss of such work is not due to the fault of the injured…
As an attorney representing injured workers in Pennsylvania, I find “no work” jobs to be one of the nastier and more insulting actions an employer can take. Like they sound, “no work” jobs are positions offered to injured workers by their pre-injury employers, where the injured worker is to sit…
The last major changes to the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act came in 1996. Among other things, workers’ comp insurance carriers were given a credit for some other benefits an injured worker might receive, such as unemployment compensation, severance benefits, Social Security Retirement benefits and pension benefits [Section 204(a) of the…
As mentioned in a previous blog post, Pennsylvania Courts have become increasingly strict with regard to cutting off PA workers’ compensation benefits to retired injured workers, even when the retirement is due to the work injury. Those of us who represent injured workers’ in PA workers’ comp were surprised and…
As a Claimant’s lawyer, practicing exclusively in PA workers’ comp, I was thrilled when the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania decided Lewis v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (WCAB) in 2007. The Court in Lewis limited a PA workers’ comp insurance company’s ability to continually file petitions to terminate a claimant’s workers’…
In an interesting study, posted on www.medscape.com, patients with lumbar disc herniations have been found to recover better than those patients who refuse surgery to concentrate on medications, exercise and physical therapy. An injured worker suffering a herniated disc in his or her back (or neck, for that matter) is…
A recent article on www.emaxhealth.com noted that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an extended-release version of the chronic pain medication, Ryzolt (sold under the name of “Tramadol”). Though Tramadol has previously been available, this simplified dosage is new. Unfortunately, chronic pain is something we see all…