As is well known, an employer’s right to subrogation under Section 319 of the Workers’ Compensation Act has consistently been found to be absolute, with few exceptions. The most notable example being where the injured worker recovers from an uninsured motorist policy paid for by the employee himself. There is, however, another exception that can be missed, which was recently addressed in the Commonwealth Court case of Pennsylvania State Police v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Bushta), No. 2426 C.D. 2015. An employer is not entitled to subrogation from a claimant’s third-party motor vehicle accident to the extent the workers’ compensation benefits were paid pursuant to the Heart and Lung Act.
The Heart and Lung Act provides for the payment of wage-loss and medical bills to important public safety personnel such as police officers and firefighters. Any attorney who practices workers’ compensation law should be familiar with the act and its interplay with the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act. While the Heart and Lung Act itself is only about four paragraphs, the scope of the act and the burdens of proof are much different from the Workers’ Compensation Act, resulting in a good deal of case law addressing the act’s application. Essentially, the Heart and Lung Act affords an eligible employee “full compensation” along with the continuation of employee benefits, which complements and actually supplements the benefits afforded by the Workers’ Compensation Act.
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