What You Need to Know About Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation

A Philadelphia-area nurse is suing her former employers, claiming that she was wrongfully terminated from her position at the St. Francis Center for Rehabilitation and Catholic Health Group after she requested workers’ compensation and light duty following injuries to her wrists, knees and hips.

According to media reports related to the suit filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, her employers did not accommodate her needs. Instead, the suit alleges that her employer treated her poorly, accused her of stealing medications and ultimately fired her.

Now, the nurse is demanding damages for both lost wages and benefits (and she is also demanding court and legal costs, to boot).

Sad but true: These kinds of workers’ compensation suits happen more often than one might think.

Here’s what you need to know about Pennsylvania’s workers’ compensation system and laws:

In the Keystone State, there is something known as the Workers’ Compensation Act. Pennsylvania’s Workers’ Compensation Act is one that provides benefits to workers injured on the job or those who have suffer from occupational diseases and provides monetary benefits to these folks.

It’s important to note that these benefits are paid out to injured workers (or those suffering from an occupational injury) regardless of:

• who is to blame for the workplace injury or occupational disease
• the prior physical condition of the injured employee

Workers’ compensation claims has its own court system complete with its own set of rules and regulations – ones that are best navigated by an experienced and skilled attorney. Because, unfortunately, the course of these claims (and associated payments) sometimes doesn’t run smooth.

In fact, sometimes valid claims are denied. At other times they require an attorney to help negotiate either a lump sum settlement or structured settlement on behalf of the injured worker. In some situations, a legal claim can also be made against other companies, corporations or individuals that caused the workplace injury or occupational injury.

But things get even more complicated when it comes to settlements – both lump-sum and structured ones. Sometimes it’s necessary, for example, to consider what is known as a Medicare Set-aside account.

Not familiar with what a Medicare Set-aside account is? Medicare Set-aside accounts are those that are used to pay for future medical costs for people who have suffered severe workplace injuries or from an occupational disease. And here’s why Medicare Set-Aside accounts should be on your radar: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services seek to recover reimbursement for the cost of future medical treatments if the beneficiary recovers with the help of another payment source – such as workers’ compensation.

Still unsure about how it all works?

If you have been injured in a workplace injury and you are battling for workers’ compensation benefits, or you have been denied workers’ benefits and, enlist the help of the workers’ compensation attorneys at Pribanic & Pribanic.

Our attorneys have extensive experience navigating the Pennsylvania’s workers’ compensation system. Pribanic & Pribanic’s workers’ compensation attorneys have helped clients with:

•        Denied claims
•        Settlements (both lump-sum workers’ compensation benefits and structured-settlements related to workers’ compensation claims)
•        Death claims

If you or someone you care about is suffering from a workplace injury or an occupational injury and you need help navigating Pennsylvania’s workers’ compensation system, call the Pittsburgh workers compensation lawyers at Pribanic & Pribanic at 412-672-5444 or toll-free at 800-392-4529 today for a free consultation of your claim.