For Sole Proprietorships, PA’s 120-day Notice to “Employer” Requires Notice to Insurer

PA Commonwealth Court Reverses WCJ and Board in Post-Lorino Decision

PA Trucker’s PTSD Claim Denied Following Small Truck Fire

PA Appellate Court Nixes Use of “Red Book” in Setting Reimbursement for Drug Costs in Comp Cases

Issue Commentary: PA’s Commonwealth Court Parses Words to Require Employer/Carrier to Pay for Medical Marijuana

Opinion Mondays: The AMA is on Another Collision Course With Protz

The first session at tomorrow afternoon's (August 18, 2020) virtual conference, sponsored by Workers' Compensation Institute, has really piqued my interest. Entitled, "THE NEW AMA Guides®" (hereinafter "the Guides"), it begs the question: "When will the 7th Edition of the Guides be released?"....

PA Supreme Court “Corrects” Long-Standing Rule Regarding Award of Attorney’s Fees Against Employer Who Reasonably Contests Issues

In a decision that is turning heads in the Keystone State, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, stressing the importance differences between two words—“shall” and “may”—reversed a decision by the state’s...

PA Claimant’s Benefits Terminated: 18 Months of Home Remedies Did Not Constitute Medical Treatment

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court held a WCJ appropriately relied upon the medical opinion of the employer’s examining physician in which the doctor opined that the workers’ compensation claimant had made...

PA Supreme Court Construes Benefits Disqualification During Incarceration Statute

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, affirming a decision by the state’s Commonwealth Court, held that the express terms of Section 306(a.1) of the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act [77 P.S. §...

PA Court Says WCJ Erred in Failing to Award Attorney’s Fees to Claimant

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania recently reversed a decision of the state's Board and found, contrary to the findings of both a WCJ and the Board, that an employer violated...

PA Injured Worker's Decision to Become Stay-at-Home Dad Proves to be Expensive

A Pennsylvania appellate court held that where an injured worker resigned from his modified-duty position in order that he could be a “stay-at-home” dad, in part due to his injury,...

PA Commonwealth Court Says Protz Decision Was Not "Fully Retroactive"

In the continuing saga surrounding Pennsylvania’s Protz decision [see Protz v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Derry Area School District), 639 Pa. 645, 161 A.3d 827 (Pa. 2017)(Protz II)], the state’s...