There is a common misconception that the workers’ compensation insurance carrier controls medical treatment whenever a worker is injured in Pennsylvania.  This is addressed in broad strokes on our website.  The truth is, a workers’ compensation insurer in PA may control medical treatment for the first 90 days of an injury, only if certain requirements…

While many folks know what happens when an Employer violates Pennsylvania law and fails to carry PA workers’ compensation insurance (this is governed by the Uninsured Employers’ Guaranty Fund [UEGF]), few know what happens when a PA workers’ compensation insurance carrier goes bankrupt or ceases to exist.  This is where the Security Fund (Fund) steps…

Just recently, we discussed a case which addressed mental/mental work injuries in Pennsylvania.  This type of injury occurs when a mental stimulus creates a psychic injury.  As we reviewed in that posting, these mental/mental injuries have a higher burden in the PA workers’ compensation system – to be compensable, such injuries must result from…

As we have discussed previously on this blog, physical injuries in Pennsylvania are treated differently than mental ones.  Provided that a physical injury was suffered in the scope and course of the job, benefits should be payable.  Mental injuries, though, have a different and additional requirement – the injury must have resulted from “abnormal…

The Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act (Act) is very specific – a workers’ comp insurance carrier is responsible for the payment of all reasonable and necessary medical expenses, which are related to a work injury.  As always, the devil is in the details.  For example, is the payment of medical bills something which can only be…

Back in 2008, we discussed the decision of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania in the matter of Weney v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Mac Sprinkler Systems, Inc.) [Note that the formatting, with the WCAB listed as the party and the Employer in parentheses, has been reversed since this decision].  This decision terrified attorneys who represent…

We are excited to relay the news that the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, Office of Adjudication, has announced that there will be three new additions to the workers’ comp bench.  Two will be serving the Philadelphia Workers’ Compensation Hearing Office and one will be in the Williamsport Workers’ Compensation Hearing Office.
Erica Burry, Esquire…