Recent Changes to the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Law by RG Injury Law: In this fourth article in our Workers’ Compensation series, we strive to update you on the always evolving law and how it may impact your Workers’ Compensation rights.

What Do You Need to Know If Your Workers’ Compensation Case Is Awarded a Notice of Temporary Compensation Payable (NTCP)?

When injured on the job, your employer and/or its Workers’ Compensation insurance company are supposed to do one of three things within 20 days of notice of your injury:

1. accept your claim
2. temporarily accept your claim; or
3. deny your claim.

This is rarely done correctly, which keeps Claimants’ lawyers busy.

If your claim is accepted, your employer or its insurance company will issue a document called a “Notice of Compensation Payable” (NCP). On that document is listed your name, injury date, employer, the insurance company, the injury you sustained and if that injury is causing you to sustain wage loss, the amount of income you earned at the time of injury, and the corresponding Compensation rate. Once a claim has been accepted, the Claimant and insurance company can change the status of the claim by operation of a “Supplemental Agreement.”

The insurance company has an alternative to permanently accepting your claim by issuing a “Notice of Temporary Compensation Payable” (NTCP or sometimes called a TNCP). This document lists the same things as the NCP, with one big exception; your claim can be denied within 90 days of the issuance of the NTCP. If, let’s say after 45 days of treating and being off work for a work injury, the insurance company can unilaterally stop your benefits and force you to litigate the reinstatement of benefits. If 90 days pass after the issuance of an NTCP, then your claim converts to as if it were an NCP.

Lastly, if the insurance company denies your claim for one of six reasons listed on the “Notice of Denial” you would be forced to litigate the initiation of benefits or have your claim remain in a denied status.

This year the Commonwealth Court in LifeQuest Nursing Center v. WCAB (Tisdale), No. 1250 C.D. 2017 (Pa.Cmwlth. July 19, 2018), decided that a supplemental agreement executed by the parties during the 90 days of the NTCP did not change or convert the NTCP into an NCP.

Opinion: The issuance of NTCP is problematic for several reasons. First, every time a client initially comes in and an NTCP has been filed, they have never received an actual copy of the NTCP. Therefore, they have no idea what legal description has been assigned to their claim. Furthermore, they have no idea that the carrier can just stop the claim (and payment of wage loss) without warning. The NTCP lulls Claimants into a false sense of security that their claim cannot be stopped. Unfortunately, this is a temporary acceptance of your claim. This may be due to your injuries or illness inaccurately described in the temporary compensation payable or other reasons. If they are correctly defined, the Workers’ Compensation Administration can still retract your compensation within 90 days from the date it was issued. Note that your lost wage benefits may never be paid even though you have received an NTCP or you may only be able to pay medical bills with the temporary compensation payable.

If you are affected by a temporary acceptance of your Workers’ Compensation claim, call for a free case review if you have questions about the full coverage of your wage loss benefits or payment of your future medical bills through Workers’ Compensation benefits. Contact Bill Gregory, recognized as one of the top injury and disability lawyers in Pennsylvania who knows how to help victims of workplace injuries, people with disabilities, veterans and their families after a work-related disability, injury, illness, or death has impacted your life. Call us for a no-pressure, Workers’ Compensation benefits consultation at 717.656.5000.

While we call Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, our home, personal injury law firm fight for clients with injuries and disabilities in need of personal injury lawyers, Social Security SSDI and SSI, Workers’ Compensation lawyers, and/or veterans seeking VA Disability Compensation lawyers throughout the mid-Atlantic region from offices in Lancaster County that include service in Harrisburg, Hershey, Middletown, Annville, Mt. Gretna, Elizabethtown, Columbia PA,Lancaster City, Neffsville, Hempfield Township, Manheim Borough, Manor Township, Manheim Township, Gap, Ephrata, Lititz, Leola, Mt. Joy, Marietta, Akron, Denver, Millersville, Willow Street, Strasburg, New Holland, Paradise, Refton, Quarryville, Reamstown, West Chester, Coatesville, Exton, King of Prussia, and Malvern. RG Injury Law also fights for people with disabilities in the counties of Lebanon, Philadelphia, Chester, York, Dauphin, Berks, and Montgomery.