Every so often a case comes down that makes the lives of injured workers better, animating humanitarian purposes of the Workers’ Compensation Act. To that end, earlier this week, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court directed to be reported a previously nonprecedential memorandum opinion in the matter of City of Philadelphia v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Thompson), 217 C.D. 2020 (5/26/2021), which held the employer accountable for significant malfeasance in failing to timely pay any compensation at all, following an award of compensation that was ostensibly either difficult or impossible to calculate. The court essentially held the employer accountable for paying nothing at all when it had all the means necessary to make at least a good faith payment.

The dispute stems from a fatal claim petition that was granted on May 4, 2018. The decision and order directed the employer to pay benefits, including weekly indemnity payments for the duration of the life of the decedent’s wife (claimant). The employer appealed to the board, which on June 8,  2018, denied the employer’s request for supersedeas. Receiving no payment, the claimant filed a penalty petition on July 29, 2018. Before the workers’ compensation judge (WCJ), the employer brazenly admitted that it had not made any payments to the claimant despite the successful fatal claim petition and the board’s denial of supersedeas, relying on the bizarre and callous assertion that it was unable to calculate the amount of money owed. Based on the employer’s admission, the WCJ found that the employer “blatantly disregarded” the original WCJ order and the board supersedeas decision and that the employer could not “credibly argue an inability to ascertain” the amount owed. The WCJ actually found the “arguments raised by the employer to be disingenuous” as the order of the WCJ “was clear and the information missing was within the control of the employer.” The WCJ imposed a 50% penalty for failing to comply with the fatal claim petition order and subsequent supersedeas denial by the board.

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