In litigating a workers’ compensation case in Pennsylvania, we fight about many aspects of a case.  Certainly, we have had disputes over when an injured worker was actually “disabled” from his or her job. As highlighted in a recent decision by the Commonwealth Court of PA, though, sometimes the exact date on which disability begins can have great consequence. In Valley Stairs and Rails v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Parsons), the injured worker hurt…

When the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania decides a case in the PA workers’ compensation arena, we often get some insight into an aspect of the law, or an interpretation of a section of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act (Act).  Rarely do we see a case address two areas of significance.  So, when the Commonwealth Court issued a decision recently in the Kurpiewski v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Caretti, Inc.)  case, we were very excited.  We…

Okay, so you get injured at work.  You get treatment with a doctor, maybe have a course of physical therapy, then you start to feel a little better.  You are not all better yet, and you cannot go back to your regular job, but maybe you could do some kind of work.  So the doctor releases you to light duty work.  What then? First, let’s talk about what does not happen.  If you are receiving…

On our blog, and our website, we talk of how to help the injured worker, both through legal rights under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, and through news and developments in the medical field.  But, maybe the most helpful thing is to avoid the work injury in the first place. While typically, we keep things local to Pennsylvania work injuries, we were contacted by a site in the United Kingdom, which has a guide to…

Though the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act does not have a cost-of-living increase, as seen with Social Security Disability benefits, the maximum workers’ compensation rate does increase every year.  This, of course, does not impact existing injuries, only those that take place in this calendar year.  The PA Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has just announced that the maximum workers’ compensation rate for injuries taking place in 2019 will be $1,049.00 per week.  This is up from…

Anyone who follows our blog, or the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation system, knows that one of the fastest changing areas these days is that of Impairment Rating Evaluations (IREs).  To keep pace with these changes, and continue our goal of educating the injured worker throughout PA, we have updated the IRE section of our website.  The new page can be accessed here. For those unfamiliar with the IRE process, this was something the insurance industry…

As we have noted in the past, generally, the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation does not publicize when Workers’ Compensation Judges (WCJs) move from county to county, or even when they change into a different role in the Bureau.  So, it falls to us to share with injured workers what seems to be happening from our view.  Since none of this has actually been confirmed by the Bureau, all of what we are saying here…