Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Benefits: An Overview
Pennsylvania workers’ compensation law provides for a number of benefits for workers who are injured on the job. Benefits include payment for lost wages, for the loss of function of certain specific body parts, for medical expenses, and even death benefits if the injury results in the worker’s death.
Payment for lost wages may be available if the injury leaves a worker totally disabled and unable to work, or partially disabled and earning less than the pre-injury amount. If an employee is deemed totally disabled, the employer may ask for a reevaluation of the employee’s condition after 104 weeks, or two calendar years. Partial disability payments are available for up to 500 weeks, and may be available even if the injured worker can return to some kind of work.
A separate “specific loss award” may be available to workers who lose the use of a thumb, finger, hand, arm, leg, foot, or toe; lose sight or hearing; or suffer a serious and permanent disfigurement of the head, face or neck in a workplace injury.
Workers whose injuries are covered have a right to receive their reasonable medical expenses paid. These expenses may be paid even if the worker has lost no time from work. Employees who have been injured in the workplace should take care to choose a qualified Pennsylvania medical provider to ensure that workers’ compensation benefits will completely cover their medical bills.
Employees who are injured on the job in Pennsylvania should never feel as though their injuries are their own fault. Employers have a duty to provide safe working conditions and to secure workers’ compensation so that their employees are protected from injury. While it is understandable for an injured employee to question whether he or she qualifies for workers’ compensation, some legal resources are available to help an injured worker in estimating workers’ compensation rates.
