Workers' Compensation

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Employers often shy away from discharging employees for disciplinary reasons when those employees are receiving workers’ compensation benefits, such as in instances where the employee is working a modified duty assignment.  However, such employees can and should be held to the same standards as other employees, including compliance with applicable policies and procedures.  Additionally, so…

As a general rule, an employee who is injured while commuting to or from work is not entitled to workers’ compensation benefits, as the injuries are not deemed to be “in the course and scope of employment” by virtue of the longstanding “going and coming rule.”  There are exceptions to the rule, including: (1) situations…

The use of temporary employees provided by agencies that supply laborers, secretaries, nurses or other skilled or unskilled workers to the public and private sector is increasing. Employers who use these temporary agency workers’ must be wary of the relationships created by the use of the temporary agency workers. Are the temporary workers “employed” by…

On November 28, 2016, a federal district court issued an order that allowed OSHA to move forward with implementation of its controversial standards related to mandatory post-accident drug testing programs and incident-based employer safety incentive programs.  As McNees previously reported, OSHA delayed enforcement of these parts of its final rule, aimed to “Improve…

Pennsylvania’s Medical Marijuana Act (MMA) was signed into law on April 17, 2016 and officially took effect last week. One of the questions we’ve been asked since the passage of the Act is: how will employer provided insurance (both health and workers’ compensation) be affected by the legalization of medical marijuana in Pennsylvania? The simple…

On May 11, 2016, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) finalized a recordkeeping and reporting rule that will require covered employers to take the additional step of electronically submitting to OSHA, injury and illness information that is required to be maintained under existing OSHA regulations.  The rule becomes effective January 1, 2017.

The new…

In 2010, the Pennsylvania Legislature enacted the Construction Workplace Misclassification Act (CWMA), which, in part, attempted to clarify who is and is not an independent contractor (in the construction industry) for the purposes of workers’ compensation coverage.

Section 3(a) of the CWMA provides: “For purposes of workers’ compensation . . . an individual who performs…

In 2003, the Pennsylvania General Assembly amended Section 601 of the Workers’ Compensation Act to expand the definition of the word “employee” to include employees who, while in the course and scope of their employment, provide aid to a person in order to (1) prevent the commission of a crime, (2) apprehend someone suspected of…

In a case of first impression, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court recently issued an opinion examining the standards applicable to a claimant’s behavior when the claimant is receiving workers’ compensation benefits and has filed for unemployment compensation.

By way of background, the claimant suffered a brain injury at work and received workers’ compensation benefits. Several months…