As discussed in this space on various occasions, the Commonwealth Court’s decision in Protz v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Derry Area School District), 124 A.3d 406 (Pa. Commw. 2015), which has since been taken up by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, addressed the constitutionality of Section 306(a.2) of the Workers’ Compensation Act, which calls for reliance on “the most recent edition” of The American Medial Association Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairments (the AMA guides) in performing Impairment Rating Evaluation (IREs). The court found that the legislature’s deference to “the most recent version” of the AMA guides was an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority to the AMA with no vehicle for legislative review.
Notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s decision to grant review of Protz, many IRE cases have made their way to the Commonwealth Court, and at least one has even been decided by the Supreme Court. Tribunals at every level have been reluctant to allow the Supreme Court to weigh in before attempting to deal with any particular case. One more such case was decided by the Commonwealth Court right before the end of last year.
