Workers' Compensation Information, Cases And Legal News
IMPORTANT WORKERS' COMPENSATION INFORMATION AND CASES
During his 18 years of practice, Philadelphia workers' compensation Attorney Richard Jaffe has watched insurance companies take higher fees from his clients' injuries while protecting the worker less and less. Here are a few tips to remember if you are injured on the job.
Fact: Big insurance companies want to limit your rights by stopping you from seeing your own doctors by doubling the time you have to treat with doctors chosen by your employer. Do you want to be held captive to the opinions of the doctors that your employer has chosen or do you want free choice about selecting your own doctor to treat your work injury?
Fact: Big insurance companies want to make it harder for an injured worker to get the protections they need by limiting the fees of the lawyer who defends an injured worker while not limiting the fees of the lawyers for your employer or its insurance carrier. While insurance companies and employers will be able to pay their lawyers all they want, you will not be able to find a lawyer to represent you for such limited fees. Do you want to go up against the insurance company lawyer alone?
Fact: Big insurance companies want to change the definition of an injury under the WC Act by only allowing coverage if the worker has an "accident" at work. That would be a return to the law as it existed before 1972 when benefits were capped at $60.00 per week. That rejected standard would deprive thousands of injured workers coverage under the WC Act for BOTH wage loss benefits and medical coverage.
Fact: This is just the latest attempt by the big insurance companies to change the system to benefit them while taking away your rights. In 1993, 1995 and 1996, the insurance industry had the Workers' Compensation Law changed to benefit them while reducing the rights of injured workers to treatment and benefits. Since 1993, employers have saved over $5 BILLION dollars from these changes.
Fact: There is no problem with the workers' compensation system in Pennsylvania. Costs are down, claims are down and workers' injuries are down.
- The number of workplace injuries was down by 12% since 1995 which means that there are at least 12% less claims that have to be paid.
- The number of injuries by reported by employers in Pennsylvania, for which workers missed work, has dropped by 20% since 1994.
- The number of penalty petitions filed against employers and insurance companies for violating the Workers' Compensation Act has increased by over 5% since 2000 and by 2003 makes up the second largest class of petitions filed under the WC Act.
WORKERS' COMPENSATION CASE
Here is a noteworthy case which has affected the law as it pertains to injured employee rights reported by Philadelphia workers' compensation attorney Richard Jaffe:
Caso v. WCAB
On December 30, 2003 the PA Supreme Court Overuled the Commonwealth Court's decision in Caso v. WCAB. In that case, the Commonwealth Court held that a claimant could not be compelled to meet with a Vocational Expert to perform a Labor Market Survey or Earning Power Assessment, if that Expert had not yet been approved by the Bureau of Workers' Compensation. Although the law changed in 1996 with regards to the type of testimony permissible to establish "job availability," the Bureau of WC had never established a list of persons who were qualified to act as "Vocational Experts." Although the Commonwealth Court held that the Workers' Compensation Judges did not have the authority to "approve" these experts in the absence of a "list" established by the Bureau of WC, the PA Supreme Court Disagreed, and held that the WCJ does have such authority.
As a result of the Commonwealth Court decision, we were not permitting our clients to meet with Vocational Experts for vocational interviews, if their sole purpose was to proceed with a Labor Market Survey, and not actually find our clients "real" jobs. Now as a result of the Caso decision and the soon to be enacted House Bill 88, the WC Carriers will be able to choose their own Vocational Experts (even ones that work for the Ins Co.) regardless of whether or not they have been approved by the Bureau and the WCJ will be able to render a determination as to whether or not the individual is qualified to be an expert.
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