Pennsylvania workers spanning the state and employed in diverse industries understandably value the company benefits they receive in exchange for their labor.
Those benefits are not handouts tied to management generosity; rather, they are hard-earned entitlements based on workers’ sustained good-faith performance.
As such, they are intended to be reciprocal. Employees do their jobs, and the company makes good on its contractual duties.
That is certainly an on-paper reality. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out like that in the real-life work world.
Take workers’ compensation benefits, for example. Under the national workers’ comp scheme, employees reasonably anticipate needed company protections being provided to them when they suffer debilitating on-the-job injuries. In exchange for their contractual safeguards, they forgo pursuing litigation following a workplace accident or injury.
Why do some workers’ comp cases challenge employees?
Here is a truism often borne out in American workplaces, as noted in one authoritative online overview of workers’ compensation cases and outcomes: “Most employers view an injured worker as a financial ability.”
The bottom line is that it costs a company and its insurer money when a worker is out of commission and receiving injury-linked compensation and benefits.
The stated rationale in challenging a claimant is often closely similar from case to case. Company managers and/or insurers’ doctors frequently make these arguments:
- The claimant was injured in an activity unrelated to work
- The claimed injury is tied to a preexisting condition
- The worker is overstating the severity of a claimed debilitating condition
Fighting back against those and additional claims can obviously be stressful and notably challenging for an individual already compromised by a health challenge. In many instances, it is a flat imperative for a claimant to timely secure help from a proven and empathetic legal team of workers’ compensation attorneys. A successful counter strategy can ensure the receipt of multiple key benefits.
Benefits provided under Pennsylvania workers’ comp law
The benefits a workers’ compensation claimant can receive are comprehensive and meaningful, which should of course be the case in the wake of a sustained workplace injury. Those benefits include these entitlements:
- Replacement of lost wages
- Temporary and sometimes permanent disability benefits
- Physical and vocational rehabilitation
- Immediate medical care coverage
Claimants might also reasonably want to know that a separate personal injury lawsuit and recovery can sometimes be pursued in instances where a non-employer third party negligently contributed to an injury.
Worker’s compensation benefits are a deeply valued and hard-earned company benefit. Claimants who are wrongly denied them or suffer undue delays in their receipt have every right to push back and demand good-faith performance from employers and insurers.