Category: Workers’ Compensation

As a personal injury attorney with a focus on injured workers and employees, I represent many individuals who are injured by machine accidents.

Common causes of machine accidents

More often than not, machine accidents are caused by either a lack of guards, barriers, and gates or by the removal of safety devices. These accidents can lead to amputations or even fatal injuries. While employers must do their due diligence by keeping their workers safe, many times the injuries are caused by faulty or incomplete equipment in the workplace.

Read More about Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Seeks Updated Safety Standards Regarding Faulty Equipment in the Workplace

Employees who are injured in the course and scope of their employment are only entitled to weekly wage loss benefits and medical benefits. To determine the correct amount of weekly wage loss benefits payable to given individuals, their average weekly wage must be calculated. When an injured worker does not have a fixed income or salary, the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act focuses on the amount of time the employee actually worked for the employer immediately preceding the work incident and the amount of wages earned during that period of time.  Under these circumstances, where varied wages are involved, the act has delineated three different methods for calculating an individual’s average weekly wage.

For long-term employees, the earnings used to calculate the average weekly wage are taken from three of the four highest periods of 13 weeks immediately preceding the date of injury.  However, for injured workers who have not been employed for at least three consecutive periods of 13 weeks, the earnings for any completed period of 13 weeks immediately preceding the date of injury are used in calculating the average weekly wage.

Newly hired employees who have worked less than 13 weeks for their employers leading up to the date of injury are permitted to use their hourly rate multiplied by the number of hours they expected to work to determine their correct average weekly wage.

It is important to know what is considered “wages” when computing an individual’s average weekly wage.  Money advanced or reimbursed to an employee for board and lodging, profit-sharing payments and exercised stock options may constitute wages.  Bonuses are considered wages for the purpose of computing the average weekly wage and are usually prorate over the entire year.  Overtime pay must be included as wages, as well as vacation pay, which is attributed to the entire year and prorated accordingly.

It is a well-established principle that these calculations are supposed to reflect a realistic measure of what an employee could have expected to earn had he not been injured, this is not always the case.

The maximum allowable compensation rate is $932 per week.  Therefore, if an employee earned more than $1,400 per week prior to sustaining a work-related injury, the maximum amount of money that individual could receive in workers’ compensation benefits would be $932 per week.

23 Pa. C.S.A. § 4308.1 amended the Domestic Relations Code by permitting the Department of Welfare to intercept overdue child support from lump sum monetary awards or settlements paid by insurers and worker’s compensation.  This law makes overdue child support a lien by operation of law against the net proceeds of any monetary award exceeding $5,000.00.  There is reduction to account for attorney’s fees and proportionate share of cost.

The law broadly defines “monetary awards” and applies with equal force to ANY civil claim asserted in and resolved in Pennsylvania, ANY settlement obtained before a lawsuit and ANY settlement of a lawsuit resulting from any claim for bodily injury, death or paid as an award under worker’s compensation or occupational disease. The law requires the attorney handling the claim to provide a statement including client’s name, address, date of birth, social security number and the amount of support owed or a statement that no support is owed.  This information is then used by either the attorney or insurance company to search through the Child Support Section of the DPW Website.

As a practical matter, I ask for this information in the initial interview and explain that overdue support must be paid back.  In the few situations where I have a client who has overdue support, I will compare the amount found with the client’s understanding of the amount.  If there is a dispute as the amount and it is before settlement, I will instruct my client to resolve the dispute otherwise I will pay the amount listed on the website.  If there is a dispute, this law requires the WHOLE amount to be placed in escrow with the Pennsylvania State Collection and Disbursement Unit (PASCDU) until the dispute is resolved.