Stoshick v. Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. and Indemnity Insurance Company of North America (Workers' Compensation Appeal Board)
(Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 2022)

In this appeal from a decision of the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board, a claimant challenged the constitutionality of Section 306(a.3) of the Workers’ Compensation Act (Section 1 of Act 111 of 2018, 77 P.S. § 511.3) as applied to his claim, because his workplace injury arose prior to the effective date of this provision. BLF attorneys A. Richard Feldman and Lisa A Barton successfully showed that Section 306(a.3) did not violate the Remedies Clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution, because the Remedies Clause protects only vested rights, and there are no vested rights in workers’ compensation benefits.

The claimant also challenged the application to his claim of Section 3 of Act 111, the provisions of which gave employers and insurers credit for the weeks of disability compensation paid prior to the effective date of the Act. Commonwealth Court held further that the provisions of Section 3 of Act 111 were sufficiently specific to convey the Legislature’s intent.

Stoshick v. Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. and Indemnity Insurance Company of North America (Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board) (No. 27 C.D. 2021, Pa. Cmwlth. Ct. Feb. 3, 2022).

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