Philadelphia Workers’ Compensation Attorneys

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A work injury creates two problems at once. The medical one you can see. The paperwork one runs on deadlines nobody explains to you, and it decides whether the medical one gets paid for.

Our Philadelphia workers’ compensation lawyers at Zavodnick & Lasky Personal Injury Lawyers handle claims for injured workers across the city, from the first report through a hearing in front of a workers’ compensation judge. Call +1 (215) 875-7030 to talk through where your claim stands.

Whether you work behind a desk or on a construction site, there is always a chance you get hurt. Medical bills climb while your income drops. Pennsylvania’s workers’ compensation system exists to close that gap, and most injured workers are entitled to it whether or not anyone did anything wrong.

How Zavodnick & Lasky Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help With a Workers’ Compensation Claim in Philadelphia, PA

Many injured workers assume that reporting the injury is the whole job. In practice the process runs on strict rules and specific dates, and even a claim handled correctly can be denied.

Our legal team will:

• Investigate what caused your injury or illness

• Identify every responsible party and whether you also have grounds for a personal injury claim

• Monitor the progress of your comp claim and the insurer’s deadlines

• File an appeal if your benefits are denied or cut off

• Retain medical witnesses to testify about your condition

• Handle the paperwork and the communication with the insurance company

Your employer has attorneys advising it from the day the injury is reported. You are entitled to the same.

What Is Workers’ Compensation?

Workers’ compensation is insurance that most Pennsylvania employers are required to carry. It pays for the medical treatment and part of the wages lost because of a work-related injury, illness or disease.

It does not matter whether you were partly responsible for what happened. Comp is a no-fault system, and you are entitled to benefits regardless of who caused the injury.

The tradeoff is that you generally cannot sue your own employer for the injury. You can, however, pursue a claim against a negligent third party, and in some circumstances against an employer who intentionally or recklessly caused the harm. Our Philadelphia workplace accident page covers those separate claims.

Why Should I Hire a Workers’ Compensation Attorney in Philadelphia?

Being entitled to benefits and receiving them are not the same thing. Insurance carriers make money by paying less, and the tools they use are ordinary: a low wage calculation, an examination by a doctor they selected, a utilization review that stops your treatment while it is pending.

Our role is to hold the carrier to what the record actually supports. That means building the medical evidence, checking the wage figure against your real earnings, meeting every filing date, and putting your case in front of a judge when the insurer will not move.

What Workers’ Compensation Benefits Are Available in Philadelphia?

Pennsylvania comp benefits fall into four categories.

Medical costs. All reasonable and necessary treatment for the accepted work injury, including hospitalization, surgery, prescriptions, physical therapy, diagnostic imaging and medical equipment. There is no deductible and no copay.

Lost wages. A portion of your income while you cannot work, calculated from your average weekly wage before the injury.

Specific loss. A set award for the permanent loss or loss of use of a body part, for hearing loss, or for serious and permanent disfigurement of the head, face or neck.

Death benefits. Payable to surviving dependents when a work injury causes death within 300 weeks. These benefits cover funeral costs and replace part of the lost financial support.

How Much Does Workers’ Comp Pay in Pennsylvania?

Most injured workers receive about two-thirds of their average weekly wage, and the state resets the ceiling every January. For injuries on or after January 1, 2026, the maximum weekly benefit is $1,394.00, matching the statewide average weekly wage published by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry.

Lower earners are paid on a different formula, which trips up a lot of part-time and seasonal workers who assume two-thirds is the only rule.

Your average weekly wage before the injury	What the weekly check is based on
$774.43 or less	90% of your average weekly wage
$774.44 to $1,045.50	A flat $697.00 per week
Above $1,045.50	66 2/3% of your average weekly wage, capped at $1,394.00

Your average weekly wage is not just your base pay. Overtime, tips, bonuses, vacation pay and earnings from a second job you held at the time of injury can all count.

Insurers routinely calculate it low by pulling the wrong quarters. A wage figure that is off by fifty dollars a week compounds badly over a claim that runs for years, and it is correctable.

Medical treatment for the accepted injury is paid separately and in full, so long as the provider rules below are followed.

How Long Do Workers’ Comp Benefits Last in PA?

There is no fixed end date on total disability benefits. What limits them is a change in your medical status or a change in your legal disability status, and the two are not the same thing.

Total disability. You cannot work at all. Wage loss benefits continue with no week cap while that status holds.

Partial disability. You can work in some capacity, or your status has been converted after an impairment rating. Partial disability benefits are capped at 500 weeks.

Specific loss. Permanent loss of use of a body part, loss of hearing, or serious and permanent disfigurement of the head, face or neck carries a set number of weeks written into the statute, paid whether or not you are working.

Death benefits. Available to surviving dependents when a work injury causes death within 300 weeks.

After 104 weeks of total disability payments, the insurer can request an Impairment Rating Evaluation, usually shortened to IRE. This is not done by your own doctor. A physician designated through the Department of Labor & Industry assigns a whole-body impairment percentage.

Under Act 111 of 2018, a rating below 35% converts your status from total to partial, which starts the 500-week clock even though your medical condition has not changed. The provision sits at Section 306(a.3) of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act. That conversion is appealable, and the timing of it is one of the most consequential moments in a long-running claim.

How Do I Recover Workers’ Comp in Pennsylvania?

Four steps, in this order.

Notify your employer. Tell a supervisor as soon as you can, and put it in writing. The timing here decides how much you are paid, which the next section covers in detail.

Seek medical attention. For an emergency, go to the nearest emergency room. For anything else, ask whether your employer has posted a list of designated providers before you book an appointment.

Make sure the claim is filed. Your employer must report the injury to its insurance carrier. Ask for the carrier’s name and a claim number. If you cannot get one, the claim may not have been reported at all.

Watch the carrier’s response. The insurer has 21 days to accept the claim, deny it, or begin paying under a temporary notice it can later withdraw. If your claim is accepted you will receive a Notice of Compensation Payable, which names the accepted body parts and the wage rate your checks are based on. Read both lines carefully.

Pennsylvania Workers’ Comp Claim Timeline: Every Window That Matters

Every deadline in a Pennsylvania comp claim runs from the date you were hurt, not the date you decided to do something about it. The timeline below tracks a claim from the injury through the outer limits, so you can find where yours sits today. The state’s own injured worker pamphlet (form LIBC-100) sets out the same reporting and filing windows.

Time from the date of injury	What happens, and who has to act
Day 0	You are hurt. Every clock below starts here.
Day 1 to Day 21	You report the injury to your employer. Notice inside this window means benefits are paid back to the date of injury itself.
21 days after your employer notifies its carrier	The insurer must accept the claim, deny it, or start paying under a temporary notice. Acceptance arrives as a Notice of Compensation Payable.
First 90 days of treatment	If your employer posted a valid list of six or more providers, your treatment stays on that list.
Within 90 days of a temporary notice	The insurer can withdraw a Notice of Temporary Compensation Payable and stop paying without ever accepting the claim.
Day 22 to Day 120	You can still preserve the claim, but benefits run only from the date you gave notice. The weeks before that are gone.
After Day 120	Notice given now bars the claim outright. There is no medical evidence that rescues it.
5 days after your first visit past the 90-day mark	If you switch to a provider you chose, notify your employer in writing.
Within 3 years of the injury	Deadline to file a claim petition if the insurer denied the claim or never accepted it.
After 104 weeks of total disability payments	The insurer may request an Impairment Rating Evaluation. A rating below 35% converts your status to partial.
500 weeks of partial disability	The outer cap on partial disability wage loss benefits.

Which Three Deadlines Decide Most Claims?

Three windows do most of the damage, and injured workers usually learn about them after the fact.

21 days to tell your employer, if you want full back pay. Report the injury within 21 days and benefits run from the date of the injury. Report it later and benefits only run from the date you gave notice, which quietly deletes the weeks you already missed.

120 days to tell your employer, or the claim is gone. This one is absolute. Notice given after 120 days bars the claim outright.

Three years to file a claim petition. If the insurer denies the claim or simply never accepts it, you have three years from the injury date to file with the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. Waiting for the insurer to get back to you is how this deadline gets missed.

When Does the Clock Start for a Repetitive Injury or an Occupational Illness?

For a condition that built up over time, the injury date is the date you knew, or should have known, that the condition came from your job.

That means a carpal tunnel diagnosis, a hearing loss finding or an occupational lung condition can start its own 21-day, 120-day and three-year clocks years after you first felt symptoms. It also means the start date is arguable, and the carrier will argue for the earliest one it can support.

If you were hurt at work in Philadelphia and you are not sure which of these windows you are in, call +1 (215) 875-7030 and we will place your claim on this timeline.

What if My Workers’ Compensation Claim Is Denied?

You file a claim petition and the case goes to a workers’ compensation judge who hears it fresh, without deference to the adjuster’s decision. You have the right to be represented at every stage.

Denials get reversed regularly, because what decides a contested claim is medical causation evidence rather than the carrier’s opinion. Our page on denied workers’ comp claims covers the common denial reasons, the appeal deadlines and what actually changes outcomes.

Can I Recover Workers’ Comp if I’m in a Union?

Yes, and union members face a set of issues nobody else does. Health and welfare coverage runs on hour bank rules that keep depleting while you are out. Pension contributions funded by your employer can trigger an offset against your weekly comp check. Your collective bargaining agreement may limit what light duty you can be assigned and for how long.

Those questions are covered on our workers’ comp and unions page.

Do I Still Receive Health Benefits With a Workers’ Compensation Claim?

Not necessarily. Comp pays for treatment of the work injury, but it does not keep your family’s health plan active.

If you are out of work because of a work-related injury, your employer may stop paying your health insurance premiums. Limited exceptions apply, including union contracts and Family and Medical Leave Act protection, which runs up to 12 weeks.

While you are out you may receive a COBRA notice. COBRA lets you keep employer-provided coverage for a limited period, but you pay the premium yourself, which the U.S. Department of Labor puts at up to 102% of the plan’s cost.

If your health coverage is at risk, that is worth raising early rather than after it lapses.

My Company Says I Have to Use Their Doctor. Is This True?

Only under specific conditions, and only for 90 days.

Under Section 306(f.1) of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, if your employer established a list of at least six designated health care providers, you must treat with someone on that list for 90 days from the first visit.

For the restriction to be enforceable, your employer has to:

• Give employees clear written notice of their rights and duties under the provision

• Obtain a written acknowledgment showing each employee was informed and understood it

After the 90-day period you may treat with any provider you choose, though you must notify your employer within five days of the first visit. Failing to notify can mean the employer is not responsible for treatment later deemed unnecessary or unreasonable.

Two things worth checking before you accept the restriction. If you never signed an acknowledgment, it may not apply to you. And the employer’s list itself may not meet the statutory requirements.

I Was Injured While Working for My Employer But Not At Their Location. Am I Covered?

You should be. Pennsylvania comp covers employees injured within the scope of their employment, not employees injured at a particular address.

If you were performing job duties that furthered your employer’s interests, coverage generally applies. That includes running an errand for your employer, traveling between job sites, visiting a customer, or working remotely.

Denials on this ground are common and frequently reversed. These claims are evaluated case by case, and the reason given for the denial is usually where the argument starts.

If you were hurt off site, it is also worth asking whether a third party was responsible, because that can support a separate claim for damages comp does not pay.

How Much Does Hiring a Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Cost?

Nothing up front. Pennsylvania comp cases are handled on a contingency basis, so a fee is owed only if benefits are recovered.

The fee is a percentage of the benefits recovered and is capped by statute at 20%. A workers’ compensation judge has to approve the fee agreement.

Five Things Injured Workers Get Told That Are Not Quite True

Some of the most damaging advice in a comp claim comes from people who mean well. A supervisor, a coworker or an adjuster repeats something that sounds reasonable and turns out to be wrong in Pennsylvania. These five come up constantly.

Can I Get Workers’ Comp if the Accident Was My Own Fault?

Yes. Comp is a no-fault system, so ordinary carelessness on your part does not cost you benefits.

The exceptions are narrow and specific: self-inflicted injury, injury caused by intoxication or illegal drug use, and injury sustained while committing a crime. An adjuster who points to your own mistake as the reason for a denial is usually applying a standard the statute does not use.

If fault is the reason you were given, that reason is worth putting in front of a judge.

Do I Have to Give the Insurance Adjuster a Recorded Statement?

No. Nothing in Pennsylvania law requires you to give the carrier a recorded statement, and an adjuster asking for one is asking, not ordering.

Those calls usually come early, before you have a diagnosis, and the questions are built around the two things the carrier needs: whether the injury really happened at work, and whether it is as limiting as you say. An honest “my back hurts but I’m managing” recorded in week one reads very differently in month eight.

Reporting the injury to your employer is required. Narrating it to the insurer is not the same obligation.

Does the Insurance Company’s Doctor Decide Whether I Am Still Hurt?

No. That doctor produces an opinion, and a workers’ compensation judge decides what the opinion is worth.

This is separate from where you treat. The 90-day provider rule covers treatment. Once benefits are being paid, the carrier also has the right to send you for an examination by a physician it selects, and that exam frequently produces a report saying you have fully recovered.

The report is evidence, not a ruling. Your treating physician’s records and testimony go in front of the judge alongside it, and contested cases turn on which medical account the judge finds more credible.

Can I Reopen a Workers’ Comp Settlement Later?

Usually not. A settlement resolving a claim is built to be final, and a workers’ compensation judge has to approve it before it takes effect.

Once you sign an agreement resolving wage loss benefits, medical benefits or both, reopening it is difficult even if the injury turns out worse than anyone expected. Future surgery, future medication and future wage loss have to be priced in before you sign, not after.

The insurer’s first number is an opening position. Our page on workers’ comp settlements walks through what goes into evaluating one.

What if My Employer Has No Workers’ Compensation Insurance?

You may still have a claim. Pennsylvania runs the Uninsured Employers Guaranty Fund for workers whose employer failed to carry the coverage the law requires.

The fund has its own paperwork and its own clock. A Notice of Claim Against Uninsured Employer (form LIBC-551) is filed with the state first, and a claim petition against the fund may be filed 21 days after that notice is accepted.

Being told “we don’t carry comp, so there’s nothing you can do” is worth checking rather than accepting. The fund exists for exactly that situation.

Workers’ Comp Topics We Cover in Depth

Some situations have their own rules, and each of these has a full page of its own:

• Union members dealing with benefit offsets and collective bargaining language: workers’ comp and unions

• Factory, plant and warehouse injuries with a possible claim against an equipment maker or contractor: industrial accidents

• Workers told they are not covered, or classified as independent contractors: workers’ comp exemptions in Pennsylvania

• Anyone fired or laid off while on benefits: workers’ comp benefits after termination

• Retail and distribution employees, including Lowe’s staff: Lowe’s workers’ compensation claims

• The full question set injured workers ask us most: workers’ comp FAQ

If your injury also involved a third party, such as a driver, a contractor or a defective machine, the workplace accident page covers that separate claim.

Frequently Asked Questions About Hiring a Philadelphia Workers’ Comp Lawyer

When should I call a workers’ comp lawyer after a work injury in Philadelphia?

Call as soon as the injury involves lost time from work, surgery, a disputed cause, or a carrier that has gone quiet. You do not have to wait for a denial. Early calls are usually short, and the point is to get the notice date and the wage figure right before they are locked in.

Waiting until benefits stop is the common pattern, and it is the harder position to argue from. By then the carrier has a medical report, a wage calculation and a paper trail built without your input.

Can I be fired for filing a workers’ comp claim in Pennsylvania?

Your employer cannot lawfully fire you in retaliation for filing a workers’ compensation claim, and Pennsylvania courts have recognized a wrongful discharge claim for workers fired on that basis. Losing your job also does not automatically end your comp benefits, though the carrier may try to treat it that way.

Layoffs, terminations for stated performance reasons and business closures all raise separate questions about whether wage loss benefits continue. Our page on workers’ comp benefits after termination walks through how those cases are handled.

How long does a workers’ comp case take in Pennsylvania?

An accepted claim can start paying within about a month of the injury. A contested claim that goes before a workers’ compensation judge typically takes several months to more than a year, because both sides present medical testimony and the hearings are spaced out over that period.

Your medical treatment continues while the case is pending. Cases that settle usually do so once the medical picture is stable enough to price future treatment and future wage loss.

Do I have to pay taxes on workers’ comp benefits in Pennsylvania?

No, not in most cases. Workers’ compensation benefits paid for a work-related injury or illness are generally not treated as taxable income at the federal or state level. The IRS states that you do not include in income amounts received under a workers’ compensation act for personal injury or sickness.

Other income you receive while out of work can be treated differently, and a comp offset against Social Security disability can change the tax picture. A tax professional is the right person for that part.

What should I bring to my first meeting with a workers’ comp lawyer?

Bring whatever you have, even if it is incomplete. The useful items are the date of injury, the date you reported it and to whom, any incident report, every letter or form the insurance carrier sent you, your recent pay stubs, and the names of the doctors treating you.

If you have none of that, come anyway. Missing paperwork is something we can request. A missed deadline is not.

The Deadline Is Already Running

Nobody sends a reminder when a comp deadline is about to pass. The 21-day window closes quietly, and the 120-day one closes for good.

If you were hurt at work in Philadelphia, bring us what you have. The incident report if there is one, the dates if there is not, and whatever the insurer has sent you. Call +1 (215) 875-7030.

Content reviewed by the workers’ compensation team at Zavodnick & Lasky Personal Injury Lawyers, a Philadelphia injury firm representing injured workers before workers’ compensation judges in Philadelphia County and the surrounding counties.