Workers' Compensation is insurance paid for by employers to cover on-the-job injuries. Every state in the United States has some law that requires employers to have workers’ compensation insurance or to make other arrangements to pay for on-the-job injuries. However, every state’s workers’ compensation law is different. Under Pennsylvania law, workers suffering from work-related injuries or diseases are entitled to wage-loss benefits until there is evidence that the person can work, and medical expense benefits until they have fully recovered from their injury or disease.

Under some circumstances, the connection between your job and your injury will be obvious. For example, if you fall from a scaffold while installing a window on a building. Under such circumstances, you must simply notify your supervisor.
However, the connection is not always so obvious. For example, you may notice a tingling in your fingers and only later realize that the tingling is worse every time you type on your keyboard at work; or you may have a cough that leads to a diagnosis of tuberculosis and which your treating doctor associates with your work exposure.
If you suspect that your injury or disease was caused by your job, make an appointment with a doctor and discuss it with him. If the doctor believes that the condition is work-related , inform your employer as soon as possible.

As long as you are engaged in activities that further the business interests of your employer, you are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. For example, if you are injured while running an errand for your employer or while participating in a company-sponsored athletic event, you are entitled to benefits. On the other hand, injuries occurring while commuting to or from work often are not covered by the Workers’ Compensation Act, depending on the premise circumstances. Since there are many circumstances where even such injuries may be covered, it is essential that you notify your employer of the injury.

Under Pennsylvania law, you are not permitted to bring a lawsuit against your employer, except to recover workers’ compensation benefits. However, you are permitted to bring a lawsuit against persons and companies other than your employer who can be held responsible for your work injury. For example, if you are injured in an automobile accident as a result of the negligence of a driver other than a co-worker, you may sue the other driver.

If you believe that your injury resulted from a defective product, it is essential that the accident scene be preserved. You should request that co-workers or your union take steps to ensure that the product causing the injury is not lost or destroyed. Your employer may be willing to cooperate in preserving the accident scene because they stand to recover monies paid to you as workers’ compensation benefits if you are successful in your lawsuit against the manufacturer of the product.

While there is nothing in the Workers' Compensation Act that forbids employers from firing employees who are out of work due to work injuries, there may be remedies under other federal and state statute. Some of those laws are the following:
1. The common law of wrongful discharge. If your employment is terminated because you filed a workers' compensation claim, you may have the right to pursue a wrongful discharge lawsuit.
2. Collective bargaining agreements. If you are a union member, your collective bargaining unit may contain provisions that limit your employer's right to terminate you.
3. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The FMLA is a federal statute that grants you the right to 12 weeks of unpaid leave time per year if you are suffering from a serious medical condition. This protection is available only if you have worked a sufficient number of hours in the year preceding the first day of leave.
4. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA is a federal statute that prohibits employers from discriminating against qualified individuals with permanent disabilities, regardless of whether the impairment arose from a work-related or non-work-related event. The ADA imposes on employers the obligation to make reasonable accommodations provided the person can perform the essential functions of the job.

Your employer may have sickness and accident insurance. If you are unable to work due to your injury, it is worthwhile at least to inquire as to whether or not you are covered by a short-term or long-term disability policy.

Welfare, veterans’ benefits, or pension benefits. If you are totally disabled from all forms of employment, you may seek recovery of Social Security disability benefits. Before you apply for such benefits, you should consult an attorney.
You can apply for unemployment compensation. An application for unemployment compensation benefits is not inconsistent with an application for workers' compensation benefits. If you are disabled from your pre-injury position but are capable of performing sedentary or light work, you will qualify for unemployment compensation benefits if your employer refuses to supply such work to you. Your employer or its workers' compensation insurance company will be entitled to a credit for any unemployment compensation benefits you receive while the petition is pending.
You may be eligible for Social Security disability benefits. You are entitled to Social Security disability benefits only if you are suffering from a physical or medical condition that prevents performance of any substantial gainful work, and the condition is expected to last or has lasted for at least 12 months, or is expected to result in death. The Social Security Administration will consider all medical or psychiatric problems that you may have in determining your eligibility for these benefits. Once you receive these benefits for two years, you are entitled to purchase Medicare coverage for your medical expenses.
If you have only minimal liquid assets, you may qualify for Supplemental Social Security. This benefit is available to very low income persons who have not made sufficient contributions to the Social Security system to qualify for disability benefits. The same disability test is applicable as for Social Security disability benefits.

Yes. Unless notice of the injury is given to your employer within 21 days, you are not entitled to receive compensation. If notice is not given within 120 days, you will forfeit the right to receive any benefits at all.
There are circumstances in which the notice period does not begin to run until you know or should have known that your disability was caused by a work injury or disease. If your employer or its insurance company tells you that you are not entitled to receive benefits because you gave late notice, contact an attorney who may be able to help.

You have the obligation to notify your employer of your condition and its relationship to your employment. This notice may be oral, but written notice is preferred. Notice should be given to a supervisor, foreman, or other agent of the employer.

Employers are obligated to keep records of all on-the-job injuries. If an injury results in any lost time. your employer should complete an Employer's Report of Occupational Injury or Disease (Form LIBC-344). This report must be completed even if the employer disputes its responsibility for your injury. You are entitled to receive a copy of the report.

An employer has 21 days from the date you give notice to investigate a claim and decide whether to accept responsibility for it. Often employers claim that it takes them longer than 21 days. Most commonly, the employer or its insurance company claim that they have not received the written medical records or that the medical records did not say that the condition is work-related. Therefore, if your injury is causing you to miss time from work, you should take it on yourself to make sure that your treating physician verifies, in writing, that your condition is work-related and that you are disabled from performing your regular job as a result of the injury.

After receiving notice of a work injury, your employer will ordinarily refer the claim to the insurance company that handles its workers’ compensation claims. . The name, address, and telephone number of the workers' compensation insurance company is supposed to be posted on the employer's premises. Once the employer notifies the insurance company of the claim, the insurance company will assign a claims representative or adjuster to handle your claim, and that person should be in contact with you.

Because it takes several weeks to process the claim, it is generally reasonable to use accumulated sick time. Your employer, however, may have a policy that prohibits you from using your sick time. Alternatively, you may be required to repay your sick time if your claim is accepted.

If you are disabled for 7 days or more, including weekends, you are entitled to receive wage-loss benefits. If your disability lasts for more than 14 days, you are entitled to receive compensation for the first seven days of disability. To qualify for benefits, the lost workdays need not be consecutive. Furthermore, if you are working in a light duty position as a result of your injury, you are considered disabled and you are entitled to partial disability benefits if your disability exceeds seven days.

If your employer issues a Notice of Compensation Payable in connection with your work injury, it formally accepts responsibility for your claim and must continue paying wage-loss benefits unless certain conditions are met. An employer may, however, pay wage-loss benefits to you for up to 90 days without formally accepting responsibility for the claim. To do so, the employer must file a Notice of Temporary Compensation Payable. The employer has the right to stop making payment of wage-loss benefits at any time following the issuance of a Notice of Temporary Compensation Payable by issuing a Notice Stopping Compensation Benefits. However, if benefits are paid for a period longer than 90 days, the employer automatically accepts responsibility for your claim.

Wage-loss benefits are calculated by analyzing the four 13-week periods preceding the date of your injury. The calculation is based on wages and other compensation from all forms of employment. Accordingly, if you have a second job, those wages are included in calculating your benefits. The average weekly wage is calculated by averaging your wages during the three highest 13-week periods; a different calculation may be used if you have worked less than 39 weeks. You are entitled to receive approximately two thirds of your pre-injury average weekly wage up to a statewide maximum that increases every year. Low-wage employees may be entitled to receive more than two thirds. Unfortunately, your wage-loss benefits are fixed at the date of injury and do not increase to reflect inflation or wage increases you otherwise would have received had you not been injured.

There are a number of state statutes and local ordinances which impose upon governmental entities the obligations to pay benefits to employees who have suffered work injuries. The two most commonly invoked statutes are the Heart and Lung Act and Act 534. Under both the Heart and Lung Act and Act 534, the injured employee is paid a full salary.
The Heart and Lung Act applies to all state police and enforcement officers; investigators of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board; enforcement officers and investigators of the Pennsylvania Board of Parole; members of the Delaware River Port Authority; and police, firefighters, or park guards of any county, city, borough, town, or township injured in the performance of duties. If you qualify, these benefits are available for any temporary incapacity. Benefits are not available if you are permanently incapacitated.
Act 534 covers employees of a state penal or correction institution under the Department of Corrections and employees of a state mental hospital or youth development center under the Department of Public Welfare. The Act covers injuries that occur during employment by an act of any person confined in such an institution, or by any person who has been committed to an institution by any Court of the Commonwealth, or pursuant to any provision of the Mental Health Act. With respect to any employee of the County Board of Assistance, the injuries are covered if they result from the Act of an applicant or recipient of public assistance. Under Act 534, the injured employee is entitled to receive benefits until he or she returns as an employee of the respective department or institution at a salary equal to that earned at the time of the injury. Act 534 benefits are also available for the widow or widower and minor dependents of any employee who dies within one year as a result of an injury.

If you are totally disabled from all forms of employment, it is theoretically possible for you to receive wage-loss benefits for the rest of your life. This, however, is unlikely to occur. If your injury occurred after June 24, 1996, and you have received 104 weeks of total disability benefits, the company has the right to require you to submit to a medical examination to determine the extent of your permanent impairment.
If the examining physician determines that you have an impairment rating that is equal to or greater than 50 percent according to the guidelines of the American Medical Association, you will be entitled to continue to receive total disability benefits and will be presumed to be totally disabled.
If the examining physician claims that you have an impairment rating less than 50 percent, you will be deemed to be partially disabled, which will limit recovery of wage-loss benefits at that point to no more than an additional 500 weeks. To receive an impairment rating greater than 50 percent, you must be profoundly disabled.

For injuries occurring after June 24, 1996, if the insurance company receives medical evidence that indicates that you are capable of returning to perform some form of work, you may receive a form entitled “Notice of Ability to Return to Work.” This document states that you have an obligation to look for available employment, that proof of available employment may jeopardize your right to receive ongoing benefits, and that you have the right to consult with an attorney to obtain evidence to challenge the insurer's contentions.
To reduce or eliminate your workers' compensation benefits, the insurance company must establish that you have “earning power.” The Workers’ Compensation Act states that earning power is to be determined by analyzing work that you are capable of performing and will be based upon expert opinion evidence, including job listings with agencies of the Department, private job placements, agencies, and advertisements.
Your disability will be considered “partial” if you are able to perform previous work, or considering your residual “productive skill, education, age, and work experience, can engage in other substantial gainful employment which exist in the usual employment area where you live in Pennsylvania.” The Act also states that if the employer has a job that you are capable of performing, it must be offered to you.

The Act permits employer and injured workers to settle claims for workers' compensation benefits, including medical expense benefits, and in the final analysis, unless an employee is fully recovered, most cases do settle. The issue is one of timing and amount. For example, if your treating doctor has recommended surgery, the insurance company may try to get you to settle your claim in the hopes of avoiding liability for the proposed treatment. However, you need to be very careful before settling the medical expense portion of your claim if you still require significant treatment, as any subsequent medical insurance company may refuse to pay for the treatment, claiming that it was part of your work injury. If your treating physician has concluded that your condition is permanent, the insurance company may try to get you to settle your claim, and the main issue for which you really need an experienced attorney is to figure out what a fair settlement would be.

If your claim is denied, you have three years from the date of injury to file a claim petition for workers' compensation benefits. If you do not file the petition with the Bureau of Workers' Compensation within the time period required by law, you will lose forever your right to receive benefits. Under most circumstances, you should seek the assistance of an attorney in pursuing a claim for benefits.

If you are disabled and have children under the age of 18, have a very limited family income, and have few liquid assets, you may be eligible for temporary assistance to needy families through the Department of Public Welfare.
Adults without children must rely on general assistance benefits. Applications are made through the Department of Public Welfare or the County Board of Assistance. Food stamps may be available to supplement the money available for buying groceries and some household goods.
You may also be eligible for Medicaid and/or Medicare benefits to cover medical expenses. Medicaid is administered by the Department of Public Welfare. Medicare is administered by the Social Security Administration, but is only available to retired workers or persons receiving Social Security disability benefits for two years or more.

Every petition filed with the Bureau of Workers' Compensation is assigned to a workers' compensation judge. It is crucial that you retain the services of an experienced workers’ compensation attorney to represent you at that point, if you have not already done so. The workers' compensation lawyers at Fenner & Boles have been representing claimants before workers' compensation judges for many years. Our specialized experience and knowledge will be vital in ensuring that you are successful in combating the employer's attempts to limit your right to ongoing benefits.
In general, there will be a series of hearings in which evidence in the case will be presented. If your employer has filed a petition to terminate, modify, or suspend your benefits, the judge will ordinarily take the employer’s written evidence at the first hearing in the case. The judge will then consider the employer's motion for suspension or modification of your benefits pending the final outcome of the case. It is crucial that you produce evidence at that hearing, or your benefits will be modified within a matter of weeks. Only an experienced workers' compensation attorney, such as the attorneys at Fenner & Boles, can properly prepare the evidence needed to combat the employer at that point.
Further hearings will be scheduled in order to collect evidence from you and your employer. At a final hearing, you will testify. All through the process, you will need an experienced workers' compensation attorney to represent your interests.

After the record is closed, the judge will direct the parties to submit proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. The proposed findings summarize the evidence, the legal conclusions that follow from the evidence, and the remedy that the parties wish to achieve. The parties may also submit a written brief in which they argue for their respective positions. The judge will then review all of the evidence and issue a written decision. A copy of the judge’s decision will be mailed to you and to your attorney. You will have 20 days from the date of circulation of the judge’s decision to appeal the decision to the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board.

Your employer is immune from liability for negligence causing a work injury. Accordingly, you may only receive benefits under the Workers' Compensation Act. However, you may be able to sue other people or companies that are responsible for those same injuries.

The Workers' Compensation Act places limitations on how much an attorney can charge an injured claimant. Under most circumstances, you may be charged no more than 20% of any past due or on-going wage loss benefits. Most attorneys will charge this fee only if they are successful in obtaining or protecting your benefits.

The Act imposes upon employers and insurance companies penalties of up to fifty percent on late or illegally suspended benefits. However, the employer and insurance company may be able to avoid payment of penalties if they can show a reasonable basis for the non-payment. Attorney's fees may be recovered as well under certain circumstances, primarily involving a judge’s finding that the employer did not have a reasonable basis for contesting your claim.

If your injury or disease arises in the course of your employment, or if your preexisting condition, disease, or infection is aggravated, reactivated, or accelerated by a work injury, you are entitled to benefits.

Yes. The aggravation, reactivation, or acceleration of an underlying or preexisting condition entitles you to benefits. For example, if you have degenerative disc disease and a work injury worsens the disease, you may receive benefits. Do not assume that your benefits will be denied merely because you have a preexisting condition.

In general. you may receive benefits for diseases that are caused by, aggravated by, or accelerated by work activities. However, the burden of proof lies with you and your attorney to show the connection between the disease and your employment.
However, in addition to that, for certain occupational diseases, there is a presumption that certain diseases are work-related. These include:

Tuberculosis and hepatitis for nurses, blood processors, and related professions that involve exposure to these diseases.

Diseases of the heart and lungs for firefighters who have four or more years of service.

Pneumoconiosis and silicosis for any occupation that involves direct contact with or exposure to coal dust.

Specific types of chemical poisoning (such as lead, mercury, phosphorus, and arsenic) for occupations involving direct contact or exposure to those chemicals, or to their preparations or compounds.

The Workers’ Compensation Act also has a catchall provision that entitles you to a presumption that your condition is work-related if you can demonstrate that:

you have been exposed to the disease because of your job;

the disease is causally related to your industry or occupation; and

substantially more people working in your industry or occupation suffer from the disease than the general population.

If you fall into the category of occupational diseases that are presumptively related to your employment, the burden shifts to the employer to prove that in your particular case, there is a cause for your disease that is unrelated to your employment.

Yes. It is generally accepted that repetitive motion injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome, thoracic outlet syndrome, and other conditions are either caused, aggravated, or accelerated by repetitive job activities, and thus are compensable work injuries. However, employers generally do not accept these claims without litigation. In the litigation, the burden of proof will be on you, the injured worker, to prove through medical testimony that your problems originated from your repetitive job activities.

Yes. However, the burden of proof will be on you to prove that your inability to work is because of the recurrence or worsening of your condition.

The Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Act contains a schedule of “specific losses” that sets forth the benefits you receive if you have suffered a permanent loss or loss of use of certain limbs or functions of the body including vision and hearing. The law fixes a specific number of weeks for each specific loss. You are entitled to receive these benefits for the period set forth in the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act regardless of whether you are out of work. You may also be entitled to benefits for a healing period to the extent that you miss time from work while recovering.

Yes. The number of weeks you are entitled to receive benefits for occupationally-induced hearing loss depends upon the amount of hearing loss attributable to your work.

You may receive up to 275 weeks of benefits for a permanent disfigurement of the face, neck, or head. The award is supposed to be proportionate to the extent of the disfigurement.

If an employee dies within 300 weeks of suffering from a work-related illness or injury, the employee’s widow or widower is entitled to receive benefits that vary depending on the number of dependent children in the family. Widows or widowers who remarry are entitled to receive a lump sum “dowry” equal to two years of compensation payments, after which all compensation ceases. Children who are full-time students at an accredited school are entitled to receive benefits until they reach the age of 23 years.
Reasonable expenses of burial, not to exceed $3,000, are also available.

If you and your employer disagree about the nature and extent of your disability, your employer may file a petition to reduce or terminate your benefits.
If your employer has received medical evidence that you are recovered in full from the effects of your work injury, the employer may file a petition to terminate your workers' compensation benefits.
If your employer has evidence that you were offered employment that is consistent with medical restrictions that have been placed upon you by your examining physician, the company may file a petition to suspend or modify your workers' compensation benefits if you refuse such employment.
If such a petition is filed, the Bureau will assign the petition to a workers' compensation judge in the county in which you live. The judge will schedule a hearing and a representative of the insurance company will present written evidence to the judge and argue that the employer is entitled to an immediate suspension or modification of your benefits. You should hire an attorney to represent you at such a hearing.

Employers and their insurance companies are obligated to pay for all reasonable and necessary medical expenses associated with any work-related injury or disease – whether or not the injury or disease causes the employee to lose time from work. These benefits are paid directly to the medical provider in accordance with a strictly regulated fee schedule. Under Pennsylvania law, a medical provider is not entitled to bill you the difference between the provider's charge and the amount allowed under the Workers’ Compensation Act. You may not have the benefit of this protection which is known as “no balance billing” if you treat outside the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as medical providers in other states are not governed by Pennsylvania law. Payment of medical expenses does not necessarily mean that your claim has been accepted.

Many people have medical insurance, which is available in the event that you suffer a non–work-related injury or disease. This insurance may have been paid for by your employer or by your spouse’s employer. You may have purchased medical insurance on your own. You may be entitled to use this coverage while your claim is being processed. Pennsylvania Insurance Department regulations require health and accident insurers to pay benefits when a workers' compensation claim is denied; however, these benefits are usually substantially less than what is allowed under the Workers' Compensation Act, and there is often a co-pay that needs to be paid. If your employer insists that you use such benefits in lieu of workers' compensation benefits, you should notify your union, if you have one, seek the advice of an attorney, or both.
If your claim is denied, you can certainly use other medical insurance to get treatment. You should send a copy of the denial to your medical providers along with health insurance information.
However, ERISA plans are not subject to Pennsylvania Insurance Department regulations, and thus may refuse to pay for work-related medical bills. If your health coverage is administered through an ERISA plan, you should contact the plan administrator to find out what requirements must be met before health or accident benefits are paid.
Moreover, we have seen instances in which workers’ compensation insurance companies simply delay either accepting or denying claims which puts health care providers is a bad position. They cannot get paid by the workers’ compensation insurance company, because that company claims that it has not accepted responsibility for your injury. And they cannot present the bills for payment by your regular medical insurance company because they don’t have a written denial from the workers’ compensation insurance company. Under such circumstances, the sooner you retain a workers’ compensation attorney to file a claim for you, the sooner the impasse can be overcome and you can begin to get proper medical care.

The Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act permits employers to control the treatment decisions of employees for the first 90 days following their injury by requiring the employee to be treated by a physician or medical provider from a list that is to be posted prominently in the workplace. Thereafter, injured employees may be treated by a physician or medical provider of their choosing. If the physician or medical provider is not on the employer's list, employers may refuse to pay bills incurred during the 90-day period. If the employer has not provided the employee with a panel list, the employee is free to choose his own provider from the outset, and need not wait until 90 days have passed.
Under some circumstances, it is advisable for employees to be treated by their own physicians, even if they have to pay for it out-of-pocket. If the company doctors do not listen to you when you describe your injury, the symptoms you are suffering, and the findings of a physical examination independently documented. If you do not do so, you may find yourself in a situation in which it is hard to reconstruct the first 90 days after your injury since your injury will have been documented only by a doctor or doctors with a considerable relationship to your employer or its insurance company.

Your employer or its workers' compensation insurance company is entitled to have you examined periodically by physicians of their choosing. You have a right to have your own physician present at such an examination, but you must pay the cost of having your physician present. When being evaluated by an insurance company physician, it is essential that you be accurate and honest with respect to your condition.
If you are requested to undergo such an evaluation, feel free to contact the law firm of Fenner & Boles and we will send you our Guide to Attending Independent Medical Evaluations. Moreover, even if you have not sought the services of an attorney prior to being asked to participate in an examination by some physician chosen by the insurance company, this would be an important time to reconsider your decision. Often, this examination is conducted specifically to accumulate evidence to be used in connection with a petition to reduce your benefits. Any experienced workers’ compensation attorney will make certain that prior to attending an examination requested by the insurance company you have mustered the evidence necessary to counter the allegations that will be brought against you in the future.

There is no reason for you to continue to be treated by employer-designated physicians after your claim has been denied. Pennsylvania Insurance Department regulations require health insurance companies to pay bills where the workers' compensation company has denied liability, and thus you may be treated by the physician or medical provider of your choice.

After you have been treated by an employer-designated physician for 90 days, you have the right to be treated by the physician or medical provider of your choice. In general, you should exercise this right. While there are many employer-designated physicians who are competent, you should be treated by physicians and medical providers who exercise independent medical judgment.

The workers' compensation insurance company has an obligation to pay only medical bills for treatment related to the work injury. The bills are supposed to be submitted to the insurance company on appropriate billing forms with an attached medical report form. This form should clearly identify the nature of the treatment and confirm that the treatment was rendered in connection with a work-related injury.
If you receive notice from your medical provider that bills have not been paid by the workers' compensation insurance company, make sure the bills have been submitted properly. If the bills are being denied, ask the reason why the bills are being denied. If necessary, request a written denial so that the bills can be submitted to your insurance carrier.

Yes. An employer has the right to challenge the reasonableness and the necessity of medical treatment by filing a Utilization Review Petition with the Bureau of Workers' Compensation.
Bills submitted within 30 days of filing the petition may be reviewed. The Petition will be assigned to a Utilization Review Organization that will request your medical provider to send a copy of your medical records and will request a statement from you regarding your perspective on the treatment you received. The Utilization Review Organization will assign your case to a doctor who practices in the same medical specialty as your treating doctor, and that doctor will issue a report that states whether your treatment was reasonable or necessary.
If your physician or medical provider fails to provide copies of your medical records to the Utilization Review Organization, the treatment will ordinarily be found to be unreasonable or unnecessary. It is therefore essential that your provider forward copies of your medical records to the Utilization Review Organization if your treatment is being reviewed.
If the Utilization Review Organization finds that your treatment was wholly or partly unnecessary or unreasonable, you as well as your doctor have the right to appeal this decision to a workers' compensation judge. You are not required to pay for any treatment that the Utilization Review Organization deemed unnecessary or unreasonable.

For individuals who have suffered injuries after June 24, 1996, the Act grants employers the right to insist that you undergo a vocational interview. However, you should not undergo an interview unless an attorney represents you and is present for the vocational interview. Generally, your employer or its insurance company will request a vocational interview as the first step in an attempt to relieve itself of the obligation to pay wage-loss benefits to you. Therefore, it is essential that you have secured the services of an experienced workers’ compensation attorney before participating in a vocational interview.

Once you are disabled as a result of a work injury, the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act presumes that you remain totally disabled from all forms of employment unless or until your employer offers you employment that is consistent with your medical restrictions or the employer legally establishes that you are partially disabled.
If you are released to return to work after you have suffered a work injury, it is essential that you speak with your physician about whether you have any activity restrictions. If there are restrictions that have been placed on you because of your work injury, you may be entitled to receive partial disability. Partial disability benefits are equal to two thirds of the difference between your pre-injury average weekly wage and your return to work wages, up to a maximum of 500 weeks.

Your employer may ask you to sign a document called a Final Receipt when you return to work. If you sign a Final Receipt, you admit that all disability related to your work injury has ceased. Signing that document can have drastic consequences if your injury recurs or if you are laid off from your new lighter duty job. Therefore, if you continue to suffer from your work injury despite your ability to return to work in some capacity other than your time of injury job, you should insist upon signing only a document called a Supplemental Agreement. A Supplemental Agreement will act to suspend or modify your benefits but will not constitute an acknowledgment that you have fully recovered. The Supplemental Agreement should also set forth a modified benefit rate if you have returned to work at less than your pre-injury wages.

Sometimes nothing. However, your employer has the right to file a Notice of Suspension of Benefits when you return to work at wages equal to or greater than your pre-injury wages. In filing this notice, your employer or your insurance company must send written notice of the suspension to you. Once you have received notice of suspension, you have 20 days to file a challenge to the notice. If you do not do so, the notice of suspension will have the same effect as a Supplemental Agreement, and your benefits will be suspended.

You must report employment and self-employment information to the insurer when you are seeking or receiving compensation. You are also obliged to cooperate with efforts by your employer or its insurance company to investigate employment, self-employment, wages, and physical condition. You may be required to complete forms that provide this information. If you fail to return these forms to the insurance company within 30 days of receipt, your benefits may be suspended until you provide the requested information.