Pennsylvania is a small, but highly populated state with a diversity of employment opportunities. Nearly all workers in Pennsylvania are protected by their employer’s mandatory workers’ compensation insurance. This insurance is available to provide compensation in the event that you become injured or become sick while at work. Compensation payments may help to pay for any medical bills as well as lost wages. It is important to follow the procedure required correctly when filing a workers’ comp claim. If in doubt over what to do or what your rights are, talk too an attorney. Employment in Pennsylvania Most people tend to think of Pennsylvania as a center of industry, but the employment situation is very diverse, with many different sorts of employment. Like many other states in the country, certain types of occupational categories tend to dominate. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals that there were nearly 5.8 million workers in that month across the whole state. These figures were dominated by five to ten major occupation types. The top five, making up half the entire Pennsylvania work force, are as follows: office work; sales; the preparation and serving of food; transportation jobs and related employment; production. Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Laws If you work in Pennsylvania, unless you are a domestic worker or only work on a very casual basis you should be covered by your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance policy. Note that there are a few employers who may have failed to take out insurance policies. This may be illegal and there are penalties attached to this which may affect your employer. If you are injured or become sick at work, your first priority should be to seek medical treatment and then inform your employer officially what has occurred and that it happened while at work. Even if you are representing your employer while not at the normal workplace you may be still entitled to workers’ compensation. For example, if you are attending a conference as a representative of your company and are injured in an elevator accident, then you may be entitled to claim workers’ compensation. Note that in Pennsylvania there are time limits for workers to observe with regard to workers’ compensation claims. 21 days are given for employees to inform their employer of a work related injury or illness. Claims are barred after 120 days if no claim has been initiated by that time. Workers’ compensation regulations are designed to benefit both employees and employers in Pennsylvania. This may seem strange as the benefit at first sight seems to be you, the employee. While you may have the benefits of workers’ compensation, but you do not have the option of filing a personal injury claim against your employer, which potentially could lead to a far higher payment. Workers’ compensation payments are entirely for economic losses, such as medical treatment and lost wages, while personal injury compensation may include large sums for ‘pain and suffering’ and ‘loss of enjoyment of life,’ amongst other non-economic components. Dealing with A Difficult Claim Occasionally, there are hiccoughs with a workers’ comp claim. A claim may be denied; a payment may seem totally inadequate; your employer may not be insured. Whatever the reason, if you are unhappy or confused about the workers’ compensation claim process, you could talk to an experienced workers’ comp attorney. The attorney can provide advice about your rights and legal options and this can help speed up compensation.
