As we mentioned in a previous blog entry, workers’ compensation claimants in Pennsylvania are often eligible for Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits as well as workers’ comp benefits. Any increase in income to an injured worker can be the difference between financial survival and ruin. The Social Security Disability application…
Many of those who are injured at work and receiving Pennsylvania workers’ compensation benefits are using, or have used, the Fentanyl Transdermal Patch (FTP). As with any medication, the injured worker often has questions regarding the usage of the Fentanyl patch. This set of Frequently Asked Questions about FTP may…
Ordinarily, an injured worker in Pennsylvania cannot receive both workers’ compensation total disability benefits and also wages. Generally speaking, if an injured worker in PA has returned to work, he or she is no longer, by definition, “totally disabled.” The injured worker may be entitled to partial workers’ compensation benefits…
Not that long ago, a Pennsylvania workers’ compensation insurance company could terminate the benefits of an injured worker anytime they found a doctor to say the injured worker had fully recovered from his or her work injury. This encouraged the workers’ compensation insurance carriers to file Termination Petition after Termination…
Thoracic outlet syndrome is a debilitating injury we see in Pennsylvania workers’ compensation cases. In this condition, the blood vessels and/or nerves in the arms may be compressed, causing various symptoms, including pain, numbness, tingling and a “cool” feeling in the arms. There is no easy cure for thoracic outlet…
The Federal Government has created a temporary program known as Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC), which may be of benefit to injured workers in PA. EUC benefits can provide up to 13 weeks of additional unemployment compensation benefits to those unemployed folks who are not eligible for unemployment compensation benefits from…
Since the site of the current Philadelphia Workers’ Compensation Hearing Office, The State Office Building at Broad and Spring Garden Streets, has been sold, we previously mentioned that the Philadelphia Workers’ Compensation Hearing Office would be moving. We have now been advised by the Judge Manager for the Philadelphia Workers’…
While, in Pennsylvania, an injured worker generally cannot sue his or her employer for causing the injury, the injured worker is free to sue a third party. For example, the injured worker could file an action against a manufacturer of a product which caused the injury, or another driver who…
As a general rule, the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act requires medical providers to submit their bills to the workers’ compensation insurance carrier on the correct forms. Again, the usual rule is that the workers’ comp insurance carrier is not required to pay bills until they are submitted on the proper…
In a previous blog entry, I mentioned the April 28, 2008 decision by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania in Diehl v. WCAB, which greatly limited what a workers’ compensation insurance carrier in Pennsylvania can do with an Impairment Rating Evaluation (IRE). This decision was very favorable to the injured worker.…