Claimant’s Receipt of Full Salary Benefits Under Act 534 Constitutes Receipt of Total Disability Compensation Under § 306 (a) of the Act For Purposes of Triggering an Act 111 IRE.

In this case, the employer filed a petition to modify the claimant’s benefits based on the results of an impairment rating evaluation (IRE) performed following two work injuries sustained by the claimant. The first injury was on December 29, 2012, and the second was on September 9, 2014. In a March 1, 2016, supplemental agreement, the employer agreed to reinstate the claimant’s benefits for the 2014 work injury as of January 27, 2016. It was noted in that agreement that Act 534 benefits were being paid in lieu of temporary total disability benefits.

Later, the employer filed two modification petitions—one for each injury–based on the results of an IRE of June 2, 2020, which yielded a whole body impairment of less than 35%. The Workers’ Compensation Judge denied the modification petition for the 2012 injury but granted the modification petition for the 2014 injury. The judge found that the claimant had received 104 weeks of temporary total disability benefits for the 2014 injury prior to the June 2, 2020, IRE. The claimant appealed and argued to the Appeal Board that he had not received 104 weeks of temporary total disability benefits as of the time of his IRE because he was receiving wage continuation benefits under Act 534. The Board rejected the claimant’s argument and affirmed the decision of the judge. The claimant raised the same issue on appeal with the Commonwealth Court.

The Commonwealth Court dismissed the claimant’s appeal and affirmed the decisions of the judge and the Board. The Board compared Act 534 to the Heart and Lung Act (HLA). The HLA provides for payment of full salary to police officers and other public safety employees who are temporarily unable to perform their duties because of a work injury. The court noted that when a self-insured employer is required to pay HLA benefits in addition to workers’ compensation benefits, two thirds of the amount paid in HLA automatically represents workers’ compensation benefits. As with HLA, two thirds of the Act 534 payments the claimant received represents total disability benefits under the Workers’ Compensation Act, as a matter of law. Thus, according to the court, although the claimant was paid Act 534 benefits, he received total disability compensation pursuant to the Act for a period of 104 weeks, thereby triggering the IRE process under Act 111.
 

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