Workers' Compensation One Liners
Jane Lombard
 
 
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 May 2006
Average Weekly Wage:
Borough of Heidelberg v. WCAB, (Silva),
894 A.2d 861 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2006)
 Volunteer ambulance corp employee, with no paying job, was found to be entitled to irrebuttable presumption that her average weekly wage was at least equal to statewide average weekly wage as Legislature intended to momentarily compensate volunteer emergency workers when they are injured.
Scott v. WCAB (Crown Cork & Seal),
895 A.2d 68 Pa. Commw. Ct.)

In a case of first impression, Commw. Ct. rules that stock options, once exercised, are to be included in calculating claimant’s average weekly wage; Court was persuaded by tax code treatment of stock options which become income once exercised.
Claim Petition:
Edwards v. WCAB (Value-Plus, Inc.),
894 A.2d 856 (Pa. Comm. Ct. 2006)
 Commw. Ct. reverses WCAB finding employer failed to meet its heavy burden of proving sexual assault/harassment by claimant’s co-worker was driven by reasons personal to the assailant as employer presented no evidence that the assailant intended to injure the claimant.
Review Petition:
Meadowlakes Apartment v. WCAB (Spencer), 894 A.2d 214 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2006)
 Commw. Ct. holds claimant satisfies his burden of proof on a petition to review to add injuries to Notice of Compensation Payable where accepted medical evidence indicates claimant experienced symptoms in various other body parts resulting from his compensable knee injury; pain alone, without a precise diagnosis, can form the basis to expand compensable injuries.
Supersedeas Fund Reimbursement:
Howard W. Mark and Cincinnati Ins. Co. v. WCAB (McCurdy), 894 A.2d 229(Pa. Commw. Ct. 2006)		 Comm. Ct. specifically overrules Wausau permitting reimbursement for all payments made after supersedeas denial including benefits awarded retroactively for earlier periods of disability; the Court reasons that the requirement for reimbursement is not premised on periods of disability, rather, it is based on whether benefits should have been paid.
Vocational:
Linton v. WCAB (Amcast Industrial Corp.), 895 A.2d 677 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2006)
Comm. Ct. affirms WCAB holding that pursuant to Sections 306 (b) (1) and Section 314 (a) an employer can obtain more than one vocational interview so long as subsequent requests are reasonable and necessary; the mere passage of time can be sufficient to establish reasonableness and necessity.
Jane Lombard | Chuck Katz | Steve Harlen | Paul Pauciulo
Sharon McGrail-Szabo | Sheilah Tone | Debra Matherne | Thomas Ollason