Pa. Supreme Court: Claims Arising Outside 300-Week Period in Workers’ Comp Act Are Not Subject to Act

HARRISBURG, Pa. –– The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has held that claimants asserting claims for injuries that allegedly arose outside of the 300-week period prescribed in the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act are not subject to the Act, and can therefore bring common law claims against their employers.

In its Nov. 22 opinion, the high court found that the employers’ interpretation of the state’s 300-week language in the Workers’ Compensation Act would effectively leave a plaintiff with “no remedy against his or her employer.”

“It is inconceivable that the legislature, in enacting a statute specifically designed to benefit employees, intended to leave …