We are all struggling through an unprecedented time due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). This global pandemic has infected thousands, and forced the sheltering of millions and closure of businesses across the world (including our offices). In Pennsylvania, hundreds have already been infected, with experts predicting the spread to get…
By now, most Pennsylvanians have heard that Governor Tom Wolf has ordered all non-life-sustaining businesses in PA to close their physical locations, as of 8:00 p.m. on March 19, 2020. Along with this announcement, the Governor’s office released a list of what businesses qualify as “life-sustaining.” Law firms are specifically…
***UPDATE 3/17/20*** A statement was issued by Joseph DeRita, Director of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Office of Adjudication: “As you are all aware, Governor Wolf ordered the closure of all Pennsylvania state government offices for 14 days effective Tuesday, March 17, 2020. All hearings and mediations scheduled during that time…
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…