By now, we are all too familiar with the Coronavirus (COVID-19). At this point, governments, individuals and businesses are still evaluating how best to protect each other and ourselves against this pandemic. The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation is largely still open and operating on a normal basis. Hearings are generally…
Pennsylvania workers’ compensation hearings are generally held in each county in the Commonwealth. Some smaller counties may share hearing facilities, while more populous counties may have a second location. The county in which the injured worker resides is typically the county in which hearings will be held, provided the injured…
Ordinarily, reinstating PA workers’ compensation benefits for an injured worker is not a high burden. As we have previously discussed, usually benefits can be reinstated when the reason for the suspension of workers’ comp benefits no longer exists. When the injured worker once again suffers a loss in earnings due…
Usually, if the testimony of an injured worker, and that of the medical expert offered by the injured worker, is not found credible by the Workers’ Compensation Judge (WCJ), there is no way to win the case. This highlights just how important it is to have a “presumption” under the…
One of the important aspects to the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act (“Act”) is Section 309, which deals with the calculation of the Average Weekly Wage (AWW), controlling the amount of benefits an injured worker in PA will receive. We have discussed these calculations in previous blog posts. Additionally, the concept…
As we have mentioned in the past, unlike Social Security Disability benefits, PA workers’ comp benefits have no cost-of-living increase. However, the maximum rate of workers’ compensation benefit that an injured worker can receive does increase annually. Unfortunately, this only affects injuries taking place in the new calendar year. The…
We have discussed the Utilization Review (UR) process many times in this blog. Indeed, UR is such a big issue in the world of Pennsylvania workers’ compensation that we have a section on our website devoted to just this topic. Basically, UR is the tool used by either an injured…
How many times must an injured worker in PA hear something like, “Why are you still out of work – it was just a bruise?” What is not widely understood is that a bruise, or a contusion, can, indeed, be a serious injury with very severe consequences. Recently, we saw…
The Uninsured Employers’ Guaranty Fund (UEGF), and its role in the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation system, has been discussed previously in this Blog. While the UEGF plays under different rules than every insurance carrier that writes PA workers’ compensation insurance coverage, and the UEGF can be incredibly difficult and frustrating to…
When we litigate a Claim Petition, to obtain PA workers’ compensation benefits for one who is injured at work, we must prove that the person was hurt while in the scope and course of his or her job, and that such injury renders the person disabled. Almost always, this requires…