Workers who sustain a job injury or a work-related illness receive benefits under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act. These benefits include medical expenses and, if a worker is unable to work, wage-loss compensation benefits until they can return. While recovering from an injury, an injured worker may have the opportunity to earn income from another source. In this situation, is an injured worker required to report this income to the DLI?
The answer is yes, Pennsylvania law requires an injured worker to report any income earned while receiving workers’ compensation and out of work. The Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act requires any worker who has filed a petition for total or partial disability benefits or who is receiving such benefits is required to report, in writing to the insurer, any information that is relevant in determining entitlement to, or amount of, compensation including, but not limited to, information regarding the receipt of wages from another employer or self-employment. The worker is obligated to cooperate with the carrier in an investigation of employment, self-employment, wages, and physical condition.
If, after a worker starts to receive benefits, his employer has evidence to prove that employment is available, within any medical restrictions and locally available, the worker may receive an offer of employment. A worker has the right to either accept or decline the job offer. If declined, the employer may petition a WC judge to either reduce or terminate wage-loss benefits based upon the job offer.
Earning income from another source while receiving benefits may very well establish that work is available and cause benefits to be terminated. Wage-loss benefits may be stopped by an employer/insurer that has evidence that a worker has returned to work at wages equal to or more than his or her earnings level before the injury and after providing timely notice of this information.
Any injured worker receiving workers’ compensation benefits should consult an experienced workers’ compensation attorney to ensure that all information regarding additional income is reported accurately and correctly. Having more than one job before and/or after suffering a work-injury may affect benefits.
Powell Law has represented injured workers for 115 years and has a distinguished reputation throughout northeastern Pennsylvania for adhering to the highest standards in serving those injured on the job. Correctly calculating an injured worker’s compensation rate is both a complicated and critical undertaking. An incorrect calculation may lead to costly litigation, penalties, even the disallowance of a claim under some circumstances. In 1906, James Powell, Sr. founded Powell Law. Since then, our attorneys have litigated workers’ compensation cases involving all types of workplace injuries. Contact Powell Law at (570) 961-0777. The consultation is FREE, and you don’t pay unless we win!
