Thomas, Thomas & Hafer Attorney Joseph Shields Prevails on Workers’ Compensation Claim Petition

Thomas, Thomas & Hafer Attorney Joseph Shields recently prevailed before a Northeastern Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Judge on a Claim Petition.  The Employer was a temporary agency and sent its employees to work for one of the Employer’s clients.  However, it did not identify that client as an alternate employer, or location for the employee to work, on the insurance policy and the insurer denied coverage on that basis.  The Claimant sought payment for specific loss after he underwent an above-the-knee amputation following a work injury.

Joseph offered deposition testimony from the underwriting manager for his client, which was found credible by the WCJ, showing that the Employer failed to identify the alternate employer until after the injury occurred such that there was no coverage for the claim.  The Employer offered testimony from its owner showing that it was his understanding that a certificate of insurance issued to the facility where the worker was injured was interchangeable with adding an alternate employer to its workers’ compensation policy. The WCJ found that the owner was the only person who used these terms interchangeably and found it significant that the owner attempted to add the facility as an alternate “mere days” after this injury occurred.  The WCJ also stated that the owner’s “ignorance or confusion” about his responsibility to add the facility as an alternate employer was not believable.

The WCJ ultimately agreed that there was no coverage for the Claimant’s injury under the Employer’s workers’ compensation policy.  He also found that the facility where the employee was injured was his statutory employer on the date of injury such that it was responsible for the loss of the limb and payment of medical bills.

Questions about this case can be directed to Joseph Shields, Esquire at 570-825-7227 or jshields@tthlaw.com.