Claimants who were still litigating their impairment rating evaluations at the time the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s landmark workers’ compensation decision in Protz v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Derry Area School District) came down are entitled to the benefit of that ruling, the Commonwealth Court en banc has held, once again expanding the universe of cases to which Protz retroactively applies while still stopping short of addressing full retroactivity.

The ruling comes about four months after the Commonwealth Court en banc held in Whitfield v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Tenet Health System Hahnemann LLC) that, in light of the Protz decision (referred to as “Protz II” because it was decided on its second trip up to the appellate courts), any claimant who had their benefits modified from full to partial based on an unconstitutional IRE now has the right to seek reinstatement to full benefits, provided they file their petition while they’re either still within their 500-week partial disability period or within three years of the date of their last compensation payment.

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