The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Decides How Filmed Surveillance Evidence May Be Used To Defeat A Claimant’s Petition For Workers’ Compensation Benefits Entitlement

August 3, 2012

Background Facts of Case In 2005, claimant sustained a work related low back injury which the employer accepted as compensable and for which claimant initially received disability benefits.  He eventually returned to work and his indemnity benefits payments were properly suspended.  However, in October 2006, claimant contended that he experienced intense back pain with lower left extremity… Read more »

Bowling For Compensation Dollars

July 13, 2012

Factual Background In 2008, claimant was a member of a labor crew for a paving company.  While waiting for the next truckload of asphalt to arrive, the crew found a bowling ball next to the parking lot where they were working.  After a round of shot-put, a challenge arose among the crew members to see… Read more »

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Expands A Contractor’s Liability For Workers’ Compensation Payments To A Subcontractor’s Employees

July 2, 2012

Background Facts of Case The most common case implicating an alleged statutory employer as liable for workers’ compensation benefits for an individual, typically involves a construction worker whose direct employer, namely, a subcontractor on a large construction project, has failed to provide workers’ compensation insurance coverage for that individual.  In that instance, the subcontractor has… Read more »

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Again Addresses The Situation Where A Claimant Receiving Workers’ Compensation Indemnity Benefits Is Considered Retired, Has Consequently Withdrawn Himself Voluntarily From The Workforce, And Is Therefore No Longer Entitled To Wage Loss Benefits

March 8, 2012

Factual Background Claimant had sustained occupationally-related cervical and lumbar spine injuries on June 6, 1997 and on March 31, 1998, and had incurred another work-related cervical injury on September 3, 1998.  After the 1998 injury, claimant never returned to work.  At that point, he was fifty-one years old and had been a twenty-year employee of… Read more »

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Affirms The Denial Of A Claim Petition Because The Injury Was Determined Not To Have Occurred Within The Course Of A Claimant’s Employment When He Abandoned His Job Duties And Specific Worksite

February 9, 2012

Factual Background of Case In June 2007, the Oakmont Country Club, near Pittsburgh, hosted the annual U.S. Open Golf Tournament.  Employer provided certain services at this U.S. Open, and hired Claimant to work there.  Claimant’s assigned job duty was to watch an open tent with a Lexus vehicle on display inside.  His shift was from… Read more »

The Commonwealth Court Holds That Despite A Claimant Undergoing Spinal Fusion Surgery, Involving Bone Grafting And Metallic Fixation, A Termination, Based On A Credible And Persuasive Physician’s Opinion Establishing The Claimant’s Full Recovery From All Aspects Of The Work Injury, Can Be Properly Granted

September 16, 2011

Background Facts of Case Claimant, a stagehand, sustained a back injury on September 11, 2007 while working at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, due to a fall.  His injury had been legally described as involving a lumbar level L3-4 disk herniation and a lumbar strain.  As a result of the injury, Claimant was paid partial disability… Read more »

Jumping Down A Whole Flight Of Steps At Work And Crashing, Instead Of Walking Down The Stairs Normally: A Compensable Injury?

June 24, 2011

Background Facts of Case Claimant was a housekeeper for the Pennsylvania State University Behrend Campus.  On June 7, 2007, he left where he was working at Perry Hall, to take a one-half hour unpaid lunch break at an on-campus dining facility operated by Employer, where Claimant participated in an Employer-sponsored meal plan.  (He would have… Read more »

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Explains That, Although A Claimant’s Average Weekly Pre-Injury Wage Figure Was Increased Because Of Overtime Pay, He Is Not Necessarily Entitled To Wage Loss Benefits Once He Returns To Work And Overtime Is Then Unavailable, If Overtime Is Also Unavailable At That Time To His Similarly Employed Co-Workers Across-The-Board

June 17, 2011

Background Facts of Case Claimant sustained a work injury in October, 2006.  He was thereafter paid total disability benefits appropriately under the terms of a Notice of Compensation Payable.  Prior to the injury, he worked overtime, and, of course, his overtime pay was included in his average weekly pre-injury wage figure calculation, from which his… Read more »

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Further Illustrates How A Claimant’s Retirement Status Can End Eligibility For Indemnity Benefits Entitlement

June 10, 2011

Background Facts of Case In 1992, Claimant sustained an occupational injury.  As a result, he worked at a modified-duty position from around 1996 through 2001, when he was laid-off.  Claimant subsequently received total disability workers’ compensation indemnity benefits.  Claimant still had certain lifting restrictions residual from his work injury.  Then, around 2001, Claimant began receiving… Read more »

A Recent Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Case Is Instructive Concerning The Use Of The Employee’s Report Of Benefits Form

June 3, 2011

Background Facts of Case Claimant sustained a work injury in 2000.  A Notice of Compensation Payable indicated her weekly indemnity benefits rate was $611 based upon an average weekly pre-injury wage figure of $1,045.58.  Five years later, claimant was still receiving indemnity benefits payments on this basis.  The employer sent her an LIBC-756 form, Employee’s… Read more »