Worker Comp Generally

December 18, 2013

Brilliant & Neiman LLC Again Selected as a Top Blog

When we were selected last year by LexisNexis as one of the Top 25 Blogs for Workers’ Compensation and Workplace Issues for 2012, it was our fourth such honor in the past five years. We wanted to make sure that we continued to keep our blog at this high level, to be worthy of the praise we were given. Over the course of 2013, we have strived to provide information to the general public, to help injured workers, especially those in Pennsylvania. We wanted to be a resource people could trust and rely upon.

To our delight, we have once again been selected by LexisNexis as one of the Top 25 Blogs for Workers’ Compensation and Workplace Issues for 2013. We are humbled to now be a five-time recipient of such a high honor from an esteemed source. While we certainly do not produce our blog for such awards, we do greatly appreciate being recognized for our efforts.

As we have over the past several years, we will work hard in 2014 to continue to keep the same level of service to the public, and make sure that we remain worthy of the honor we have received.

December 6, 2013

PA Senate Essentially Trying to Kill Guaranty Fund; Harm Injured Workers

by Glenn Neiman

One of the few recent laws passed in Pennsylvania which helped injured workers was the creation of the Uninsured Employers Guaranty Fund (UEGF). This fund was designed to be used in cases where the injured worker was employed by someone who (in direct violation of PA law) failed to carry workers’ compensation insurance coverage. The UEGF was designed to provide medical treatment, and lost wages, to those workers who, under the previous system, would be left with no recourse. This, of course, was a saving grace which embodied the supposed “humanitarian objectives” of Pennsylvania’s Workers’ Compensation Act.

Because the problem of uninsured employers in PA is so prevalent, funds allocated to the UEGF have exhausted at a faster pace than was budgeted. The legislature was then left to decide how best to fix the problem. In an astonishing declaration of indifference to injured workers throughout the State, the Pennsylvania Senate created Senate Bill 1195. Rather than simply replenish the UEGF, and allow injured workers to receive benefits they desperately need, the Senate has elected to simply gut the UEGF to reduce the number of successful claims. This is a truly sad decision being made by those who are supposed to represent us all.

Instead of coming down harder on uninsured employers, and simply reducing claims by reducing the true offenders, the Senate has decided the burden should fall on the injured workers, who are only the innocent victims. First, the worker gets injured, then they get victimized by their employer having no insurance (in violation of Pennsylvania law). It is a double punishment that simply is neither fair nor just.

September 17, 2013

WCAIS Now Live For PA Workers’ Compensation

by Glenn Neiman

As scheduled, the Workers’ Compensation Automation and Integration System (WCAIS) went live for the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation on September 9, 2013. Having been in on the ground floor of this massive undertaking, we watched this transition with great interest. While we are excited with the possibilities this new system will offer, the change in systems did not start without some issues.

For several days after the launch, the system was shut down. Since the previous system had been stopped, in anticipation of WCAIS starting, this caused the workers’ comp system in PA to grind to a halt. Fortunately, WCAIS does appear to now be functioning (in fact, today we received our first Notices of Hearing using the system). Whether the system is fully functional is unknown to us.

Problems do remain to be addressed. One Workers’ Compensation Judge (WCJ) told us that there is no functioning scanner in that workers’ compensation hearing office. This means that no evidence received by a WCJ in that office can be entered into the system. A WCJ in another hearing office advised parties to use bench orders when pursuing a Compromise & Release (settlement), as that WCJ was not sure when the system would allow WCJs to issue decisions through WCAIS.

September 6, 2013

Brilliant & Neiman LLC Awarded 2013 Pennsylvania Excellence Award

by Glenn Neiman

We at Brilliant & Neiman LLC are honored to announce that the Small Business Institute for Excellence in Commerce (SBIEC) has awarded our firm with the 2013 Pennsylvania Excellence Award. According to the press release:

“Each year the SBIEC conducts business surveys and industry research to identify companies that have achieved demonstrable success in their local business environment and industry category. They are recognized as having enhanced the commitment and contribution of small businesses through service to their customers and community. Small businesses of this caliber enhance the consumer driven stature that Pennsylvania is renowned for”.

We are obviously humbled and honored by being selected for this award, and we strive to serve our clients at the highest level every day, to make sure we are worthy of such recognition. It is this kind of recognition which reinforces our decision, from our firm’s creation, to limit our practice to simply representing injured workers in Pennsylvania workers’ compensation matters.

August 28, 2013

Workers’ Compensation Attorneys on Television

by Glenn Neiman

As we mentioned before, both of the partners of Brilliant & Neiman LLC, Dina Brilliant and Glenn Neiman, were invited to appear on a television show hosted by Injured Workers of Pennsylvania. This show was aired live on August 19, 2013, and broadcast throughout the Berks County region of PA. The website for Berks County Television has a copy of the show in its archives, and it can be viewed on the internet by clicking here.

We at Brilliant & Neiman LLC thank Injured Workers of Pennsylvania for giving us this opportunity to speak to the public on issues regarding workers’ compensation in Pennsylvania. The primary topic was the status of House Bill 1636, which would eliminate choice of doctor for all injured workers in Pennsylvania. One of the jobs we, as attorneys representing injured workers, have is to educate the public, so injured workers know their rights under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act.

August 12, 2013

PA Legislature Trying to Deny Choice of Medical Treatment to all Injured Workers

by Glenn Neiman

As we mentioned previously, the Pennsylvania Legislature is planning another attack on injured workers in PA in 2013. This notion has now taken the form of House Bill 1636, which seeks to forever deny injured workers in PA the right to select their own physician.

Under the current provisions of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, if an employer follows the correct procedures and posts a proper list of at least six health care providers (at least three of which must be physicians), then the employer is only responsible for payment of medical treatment with the listed panel providers for the first 90 days of the injury.

If this Bill becomes law, however, an employer may list as few as a single Coordinated Care Organization (CCO) on a panel. Then, the injured worker would have to treat with this single organization, not for the first 90 days, but for the entire duration of the injury. That’s right – the legislature seeks to deny injured workers in PA from ever getting to select their own physicians.

August 7, 2013

Brilliant & Neiman LLC Attorneys to Appear on Television on August 19, 2013

by Brilliant & Neiman

We are excited to report that Dina Brilliant and Glenn Neiman have been invited to appear on the television program aired by Injured Workers of PA on Berks County Television, to discuss matters of interest to injured workers throughout Pennsylvania. This will be on a live call-in program on August 19, 2013 from 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm. We invite our clients, and anyone else out there wanting to discuss workers’ compensation issues, to call in during the program. The number is 610-378-0426.

July 26, 2013

Brilliant & Neiman LLC Working with PA Bureau of Workers’ Comp on WCAIS

by Glenn Neiman

As a leading workers’ compensation firm in Pennsylvania, Brilliant & Neiman LLC has worked with the PA Bureau of Workers’ Compensation on issues, such as the mediation process, in the past. The Bureau is now getting ready to institute the final part of its overhaul, transitioning into the online Workers’ Compensation Automation and Integration System (WCAIS). Initially, last September, the Bureau started the transition to WCAIS, by putting the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (WCAB) onto the system. This next, and final, step will be to bring the rest of the Bureau, and the entire adjudication process, into WCAIS.

It was no surprise, then, that the attorneys at Brilliant & Neiman LLC were again invited by the Bureau to be among a select group of attorneys and legal professionals from across the State of Pennsylvania to assist the Bureau with the final stages of this development. This partnership is beneficial to the Bureau, by having the attorneys work on the new system under the watch of the Bureau – to further tweak the process and refine its efficiency, as well as to the attorneys involved, by having an early exposure to the new system and gaining valuable experience.

The WCAIS system will streamline the workers’ compensation process in PA, centralizing the filing of petitions, the scheduling of hearings and the entire litigation of cases. Currently, the system is scheduled to go live on September 9, 2013. This new process should greatly increase the efficiency of both the Bureau, and the parties involved in litigation. We at Brilliant & Neiman LLC were excited and honored to share our time and experience with the Bureau, to help make the system better for all involved.

July 9, 2013

Workers’ Compensation Judge Mark Peleak Passes Away

by Glenn Neiman

It is with a heavy heart, and great sadness, that we relate that the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation community has lost a valued member. Workers’ Compensation Judge Mark Peleak passed away while bicycling on July 7, 2013. Judge Peleak presided in the Wilkes-Barre Workers’ Compensation Office, which is in the Central District. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and his many friends and admirers. He will be missed.

May 24, 2013

Law Protecting Firefighters Creating Workers’ Comp Insurance Issues

by Glenn Neiman

As we discussed previously, premiums for workers’ compensation insurance in Pennsylvania have been reduced for the second consecutive period. Apparently, all is not well for the insurance carriers in PA however. It appears a change in the law has made several insurance carriers refuse to cover fire departments in Pennsylvania.

In 2011, the PA legislature passed Act 146. As we discussed on our blog, this law created a presumption that cancer in a firefighter was related to his or her employment for the purposes of workers’ compensation benefits (meaning the burden of proof would fall to the employer to prove the cancer was not related to work activities). The period within which a claim can be reported was also significantly extended.

According to a recent article on Firehouse.com, these changes to the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act made several insurance carriers drop the workers ‘ compensation coverage for fire departments in PA. Of course, communities or townships can self-insure for workers’ comp, or they, like any employer, can turn to the State Workers’ Insurance Fund (SWIF), a quasi-government insurance carrier which will offer coverage to any employer in PA.