How Long Do I Have to File Workers’ Comp in Pennsylvania?

Workers’ Compensation is a powerful tool to get your medical care and lost wages covered after a work accident.  This process is often faster than a lawsuit, which means that it inevitably comes with quicker deadlines as well.  It is important to stay on top of your case’s filing deadlines to make sure you do not miss your chance at getting coverage.

The first and most important deadline in your case will be the deadline to give notice of your injury to your employer.  This must be done within 120 days of the injury, or else you lose the chance of getting coverage entirely in most cases.  More realistically, if you want your benefits to start quickly, you have to give notice within 21 days.  There are also some other important deadlines and timeframes to be aware of in your case.

Call the Certified Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Specialists at Cardamone Law for help with your case by dialing (267) 651-7945 today.

Reporting Requirement and Deadline for Workers’ Comp Claims in Pennsylvania

When you file your Workers’ Comp claim, you start with notice to your employer.  Really, your employer files the claim with their insurance carrier.  Your job is to tell the employer about the injury so they can file the case.

Under § 311 of the Workers’ Comp Act, workers have to file their notice with their employer within 120 days of the injury, or else they can lose their claim altogether.  However, this is the outside limit for when they can file, and it is really just the make-or-break deadline.  In most cases, your claim should be filed earlier.

If you do not file notice with your employer within the first 21 days after the injury, then they are allowed to wait and stall your benefits until they’ve been formally informed.  The other way to defeat this is if they are actually aware of the injury – but it is difficult to prove that they knew about the accident in some way without access to a copy of an incident report or a statement from your manager.  Instead, making sure you actually inform your employer about the injury within 21 days is the best way to get your benefits flowing.

Realistically, they cannot start the claim and get you your benefits until you tell them about the accident anyway.  This means you should really report your accident as soon as you can.  Our Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation lawyers can help you understand how to give notice, who to give notice to, and when it is best to send this notice in your case.

Timeline of Workers’ Compensation Claims in Pennsylvania

There are a few important checkpoints along the way as your case progresses that will trigger certain rights or payments to take place:

7 Days

Your first 7 days of injury are not covered at first.  It is only once you pass the 7th day of disability that you start drawing wage-loss benefits – assuming, of course, that you have already notified your employer of your injury and they’ve properly filed your claim.

The 7th day after an injury is also an important date for your case in that the Act starts allowing agreements and settlements about compensation and amounts to take place after Day 7 of your injury.  At this point, we will really start to dial in how much your claim is worth based on discussion with the insurance carrier, and we can potentially settle your case.

14 Days

If your injury goes on for at least 14 days, then the first 7 days of benefits will be paid as back benefits.

90 Days

When you file your Workers’ Comp claim, the first 90 days of coverage are an important time period.  This is sometimes referred to as the “without prejudice” period, because your employer/their carrier is able to pay the claim without being locked in or admitting any sort of liability.  This allows them to investigate further and, if they determine they shouldn’t have to pay, take back what they said and end the benefits without any “prejudice” against them for doing so.  This essentially means that your case will be up in the air, and that the compensation you were granted might be only “temporary compensation” for 90 days.

Another important time period is also 90 days: during the first 90 days of treatment, you are supposed to use a doctor on the insurance carrier’s list of approved doctors.  These lists are technically more than doctors in many cases, as they might include chiropractors and other practitioners.  If you are looking for care from a general physician, you usually have to use the ones from this list, but only for the first 90 days; after that, you can use a doctor of your choice.  Note, however, that these lists only include a few doctors in the first place.  If you need a specialist or you need surgery, you are usually allowed to pick a specialist and get a second opinion about surgery from doctors you choose.

120 Days

As mentioned, if your injury has not been reported to your employer within 120 days of the accident, you cannot get compensation under Workers’ Compensation.  There are some exceptions for injuries that you might not be able to discover, such as cancer from radiation – which is specifically listed in the statute as an exception.  If this rare situation comes up, your timeline for filing starts from the time you discover the cause of your condition was work-related.

300 Weeks

This is a rare deadline to think about, but injuries and conditions can only be deemed “work-related” and get benefits under Workers’ Comp if the condition arises within 300 weeks (around 5 years and 9 months) of your employment, exposure to work conditions, or work injury.  For example, if you develop cancer 2 years after working at a chemical plant, that is within the 300-week period and can still be part of a claim against that employer.  Proving that the cancer was linked to your work will be a different challenge, but at least the law does not cut you off from benefits after a delay like this.

The same rules apply to death benefits: if the victim succumbs to work-related cancer or another condition within 300 weeks of last being employed there, that can still count as a work-related death.

Call Our Workers’ Compensation Lawyers in Pennsylvania Today

Contact Cardamone Law by calling (267) 651-7945 for a free case assessment with our Bensalem, PA Workers’ Compensation lawyers.