Recent Changes to the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Law by Attorney Bill Gregory of RG Injury Law

In the third piece of this series, we will update you on the always-evolving law and how it may impact your Workers’ Compensation rights in Pennsylvania.

How Are Workers’ Compensation in PA Cases Determined Based on Course and Scope of Employment?

Workers Compensation lawyer in Pennsylvania Bill Gregory helps PA  Workers Comp clients understand the definition of the course and scope of their employment relative to the situation in which you have been hurt on the job. An oft-litigated issue is when employees have been injured at work and there is a question of whether the activity in which you were engaged at the time of injury was in furtherance of the employer’s activities. Whether you are walking from your car into work, briefly deviating from your work to engage is something personal, or playing softball at the company picnic, the Workers’ Compensation insurance company is always looking for reasons to deny your claim. While there is no hard and fast rule that applies to all situations, the general principle is whether you were furthering your employer’s interests and your activity was not so outside of that interest to be a deviation from employment.

Generally, when you are coming to or going home from work and are injured, the Workers’ Compensation system does not apply. It is called the “coming and going rule.”  There are many exceptions to this rule; for example, if you are a traveling employee with no fixed place of business and you were injured while going home, you may be considered having been injured in the course and scope of employment.

Alternatively, if you are on a special mission for your employer, and while you are traveling to work you are injured, you may be covered under the Workers’ Compensation Act.

This year our Commonwealth Court in Kush v. WCAB (Power Contracting Co.), 186 A.3d 1047 (Pa.Cmwlth. 2018) held that an employee who was provided with a company truck to travel between job sites was not in the course and scope of employment while traveling from his home to a work site. The Court’s rationale hinged upon the fact that the job site in question to where Claimant was traveling was a site that he had been to every day for the preceding three weeks, therefore, he was without a fixed place of business and he was merely going to work. Furthermore, Claimant was not paid for travel away for the job site.

If you are concerned about your PA Workers’ Compensation claim or appeal, especially those impacted by the Kush v. WCAB decision, 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 Attorney 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.

When you believe you need a high-powered Workers Compensation attorney in Philadephia to win your Workers’ Comp case, you can be confident that RG Injury Law’s winning record is the result of personalized attention and communication with clients, thorough knowledge of Workers’ Compensation law in Pennsylvania, former insurance insider’s experience. 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.