Pearson Koutcher Law Workers Comp Blog

Pearson Koutcher Law, a Workers’ Compensation litigation firm representing injured workers throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, proudly announces the debut of the Pearson Koutcher Law radio show, co-hosted by Jonathan B. Koutcher and Joe Dougherty.The Pearson Koutcher Law radio show will debut on Monday, November 19, 2018 from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm on WWDB 860AM. The show will air monthly on the third Monday of each month as follows: December 17, 2018, January 29, 2019, February 18, 2019, March 18, 2019, and continuing, as examples. In addition, online listening is available at http://wwdbam.com. During the show, Mr. Koutcher will

Pearson Koutcher Law is excited to announce we will be partnering with the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Workers’ Compensation Section and its Subcommittee of Charitable Events and Community Service to provide a hot lunch to those in need at the 4th Annual Saint John’s Hospice Lunch on November 14th and 15th. Pearson Koutcher has been a proud sponsor of this event since it’s initial year. Many of our attorneys have actively participated in the handing out meals and plan on again being involved in the serving of meals to over 300 people. If you are interested in helping serve meals, Saint

Let’s look at a few scenarios to answer the question. Suppose you have been receiving Social Security Disability benefits for a shoulder injury. You then return to work part-time, four hours a day. (If you return to work full-time, or in any position in which your gross monthly earnings exceeded $1,180, and are able to perform the job for nine months, your Social Security benefits will end.) But let’s say you’re collecting a monthly Social Security check of $1,000 and then injure your knee while doing your part-time job. If the insurance company accepts your claim and starts to pay

On July 16, 2018, Governor Wolf’s administration released Opioid Prescribing Guidelines for healthcare providers that provide treatment for injured workers. Regardless of whether you are an injured worker suffering from pain, a healthcare provider, or a concerned relative of an injured worker you may be wondering how these new guidelines will affect treatment. The new guidelines are designed to promote to safe prescription of opioids in Workers’ Compensation cases. It is important to note that these guidelines do not impact a doctor’s ability to prescribe opioids but instead, outline the best practices for opioid prescription based on research performed by

If you’re collecting Workers’ Compensation benefits, don’t be surprised if the insurance company for your employer schedules you for a vocational evaluation? So what exactly is a vocational evaluation, and how can it affect your right to Workers’ Compensation benefits?A vocational evaluation is conducted by a person with expertise on the job market — what types of jobs are available, how much they pay, and what skills they require. Insurance companies will usually schedule these evaluations if the injured worker has been released to a level of work less demanding than the work you were doing at the time of

It’s bad enough if you injure yourself at work once – what happens if you do it a second time? Let’s take a look at various scenarios so you’ll have an idea of what your rights are if you encounter this unfortunate situation. Let’s say that two years ago, you injured your neck unloading a pallet while working for a company that we’ll call Smith. You collected workers’ compensation benefits for three months, underwent an MRI to your neck, received some physical therapy, and went back to work. Because you returned to your regular job earning the same money that

On Saturday, October 13, 2018 Local 1201/SEIU 32BJ, whose membership represents over 3500 Public School Employees among which are Cleaning, Bus Drivers, Bus Attendants, School Aides, Building Engineers, Maintenance, Trade Mechanics, Environmental, Pest Control Workers, Field Grounds and Inspectors, invited Eric Pearson, Esquire, Managing Partner and cofounder of the Workers’ Compensation firm of Pearson Koutcher Law to present an educational seminar to update the Union’s membership concerning the intricacies and requirements of the current Workers’ Compensation laws.The seminar, which took place at Local 1201’s Union hall, was both well attended and well received. Mr. Pearson stressed the importance of reporting

On Wednesday, October 10, 2018 Eric Pearson, Esquire, Managing Partner and co-founder of the Workers’ Compensation law firm of Pearson Koutcher was invited to speak at the General Membership Meeting of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union Local 614. The meeting, which took place in Collegeville, PA, had over one hundred members in attendance. Mr. Pearson was honored to be invited and happy to assist the Union leadership in their effort to keep membership current about the Workers’ Compensation law and the worker’s duties when injured.The speech addressed issues including hearing loss claims, disfigurement claims and notice requirement. IBEW

In our prior blogs, we have talked a lot about the phrase “course and scope of employment” and how that standard is used to determine what is and is not considered to be a work injury. Most people are unaware and equally surprised to learn that under the right circumstances, an injury sustained while playing on your office’s softball team or in your office gym can be considered a work injury. Right off the bat (pun intended) let’s clarify that just because you are on a softball team with two guys from work, does not mean that any injury you

In our previous blog we discussed what defines a work injury. We discussed the importance of the “course and scope” requirement and how activities like using the bathroom at work do not take an employee outside the course and scope of their employment. In this blog, we will explore the circumstances that exist where an injury may appear to be work-related but is in fact unrelated. The first of these situations is one where the employee is at work on the employer’s premises but is injured while attending to a personal activity or an activity in no way related to