PA Workers’ Compensation – Suspension of Wage Loss Benefits – Removal From Workforce – Chesik v. WCAB
Chesik v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Department of Military & Veterans’ Affairs) Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania Decision November 9, 2015 Overview HOLDINGS: [1]-The court held that the workers’ compensation judge erred in suspending a claimant’s benefits based solely on her move to Nevada and her receipt of a disability pension as there was no other evidence […]
PA Workers’ Compensation – Joinder Petition/ Statutory Employer – Saladworks v. WCAB
Saladworks v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania Decision October 6, 2015 Overview HOLDINGS: [1]-Because a restaurant franchisor’s main business was the sale of franchises to buyers desiring to use its name and expertise, rather than the actual operation of restaurants, the work performed by a franchisee in operating a restaurant was not […]
PA Workers’ Compensation – Reinstatement of Wage Loss Benefits – Sloane v. WCAB
Sloane v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania Decision October 1, 2015 Overview HOLDINGS: [1]-The Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board properly upheld a portion of a workers’ compensation judge’s (WCJ) determination that a claimant’s right-knee replacement surgery and related treatment were compensable medical expenses that were related to her second work injury, based on substantial and […]
PA Workers’ Compensation – Course and Scope of Employment Case – Dixon v. WCAB
Dixon v. Workers’ Comp. Appeal Bd. (Medrad, Inc.) Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania May 29, 2015, Submitted; March 30, 2016, Decided; March 30, 2016, Filed Overview HOLDINGS: [1]-The WCJ properly suspended petitioner’s TTD benefits; because the physician who performed an IME testified that petitioner could perform the modified position the employer offered to him, the employer […]
PA Workers’ Compensation – Impairment Rating Evaluation, Maximum Medical Improvement – Neff v. WCAB
Neff v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania Decision January 8, 2015 Overview HOLDINGS: [1]-In a workers’ compensation case, because a physician’s credited medical opinions established that the claimant had reached maximum medical improvement in accordance with the American Medical Association Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, the employer’s modification petition was […]
PA Workers’ Compensation – Course and Scope of Employment Case – Dougherty v. WCAB
Thomas Dougherty v. WCAB (OVC, Inc.). PA Commonwealth Court, October 14, 2014 Thomas Dougherty (Claimant) petitions for review of an order of the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Board), which affirmed the decision of a Workers’ Compensation Judge (WCJ) dismissing Claimant’s reinstatement petition under Section 413(a) of the Workers’ Compensation Act (Act).1 Claimant contends the competent […]
PA Workers Compensation – Course and Scope of Employment Case – Simko v. WCAB
Simko v. WCAB (United States Steel Corporation – Edgar Thomason Works), September 5, 2014. Commonwealth Court Decision (Claimant determined not to be within the course and scope of his employment) Joseph Simko (Claimant) petitions for review of the April 22, 2014, order of the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (WCAB) reversing the decision of a workers’ compensation judge (WCJ) to […]
PA Workers’ Compensation – Suspension of Wage Loss Benefits – Keene v. WCAB
Keene v. WCAB (Ogden Corp.) 92 A.3d 897 (Pa. Commw. 2014). An employer may be entitled to a suspension of benefits if it proves that the injured worker, off of work and receiving disability benefits, has voluntarily withdrawn from the workforce. In 2014, the Commonwealth Court revisited a 2013 decision where it concluded that employer […]
PA Workers’ Compensation – Impairment Rating Evaluation Case – Village At Palmerton Assisted Living, Petitioner v. WCAB
Village At Palmerton Assisted Living, Petitioner v. Workers Compensation Appeal Board (Kilgallon), Respondent 9Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, June 12, 2015 Overview HOLDINGS: [1]-The Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board erroneously interpreted the statutory requirements of § 306(a.2)(1) of the Workers’ Compensation Act, 77 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 511.2(1), for obtaining an automatic change in the claimant’s disability […]
PA Workers Compensation – Course and Scope of Employment Case – Ace Wire Spring and Form Company v. WCAB
Ace Wire Spring and Form Company v. WCAB (Walshesky). 93 A.3rd 923, (Pa. Cmwlth, 2014), 2104 WL 2576059, filed June 10, 2014 In this case, the employer had appealed, contending that Mr. Walshesky was not in the course and scope of his employment when the injury occurred. The claim petition alleged a “head injury which […]
