Pennsylvania Act 534/Act 632
Pennsylvania Act 534 (of 1961, which amended Act 632 passed two years earlier) provides generous wage loss benefits to workers who suffer disabling injury at the hands of a patient or inmate in the control or custody of the Commonwealth. Employees of a state penal institution, correctional institution under the Bureau of Correction of the Department of Justice or a State Mental Hospital or Youth Development Center under the Department of Public Welfare can all qualify for these extensive and valuable benefits.
If you qualify for such benefits, the same considerations highlighted on our "Heart and Lung Act" page also apply -- with one big feature being that the interplay betweek Act 534 benefits and workers compensation benefits is such that your employer pays the costs for you to have a dedicated personal attorney fighting for your rights in the workers compensation forum (which controls many elements of your related Act 534 claim, including the scope or description of the recognized work injury and your access to related medical treatment and critical medical support), for the duration of time you remain on Act 534 benefits. Meanwhile, your right to such benefits can be dramatically extended or protected by having savvy legal support working for you behind the scenes or actively litigating to protect, expand or extend your rights -- on the employer's dime -- in the workers compensation forum.
Understand that while Act 534 pays your full salary, part of those benefits are paid by the same workers compensation benefits other workers get -- but where you get the higher Act 534 rate, the workers compensation component is released to the employer to contribute to their funding of Act 534 benefits. If an attorneys fee gets attached in the workers compensation forum, this reduces the workers compensation amount kicked back to the employer but does NOT reduce your Act 534 payments. THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS: You get greatly increased protection for your Act 534 claim, personalized attention to have your rights recognized and all options preserved, and no fees or costs to you even where we succeed in litigation that would trigger attorneys fees in a strictly workers compensation claim.
Unlike the Heart and Lung Act, Act 534 benefits can't be unilaterally foreclosed by the employer through a finding that your injury is "permanent" (or, more properly, that it is "other than temporary.") That limiting language does not exist in Act 534, though many employers refuse to recognize this where you lack an attorney to properly present the issue in the proper forum.
When the time comes where your employer is exerting pressure to force you to return to work -- often while you are still injured and where going back to work is more than you could tolerate and really pursued only as a way for your employer to avoid its ongoing exposure and to deny you your rights -- we can give you options to fight back in the workers compensation forum that you will not have if you are only dealing with your employer in their own Act 534 "kangaroo court" (which will vary with each employer and subject only to the vaguest rules of due process). We can also hold open the prospect for converting your valuable rights into a lump sum settlement, before the employer railroads your claim into oblivion or hopelessness, by means of a negotiated settlement and "Compromise and Release" in the workers compensation forum.
But note that the employer will never make you aware of these options. The union may not be willing or able to fight for you -- or might know how to do so only in a "greivance" forum where the employer's influence holds sway and where even with success your remedies will be limited. Your most powerful tool -- for controlling the scope of your claim, the description of the injury for which the employer is legally responsible, and the terms under which the employer may force you back to work in light duty or end your claim -- is the Pennsylvania Workers Compensation Act, properly applied and enforced by a savvy attorney, dedicated to you personally and not beholden to the union or to employer politics, who understands the interplay between workers compensation and Act 534 benefits.
Do not limit your own options. Do not let the employer control your fate after an Act 534 injury. Call us. We can help.
If you qualify for such benefits, the same considerations highlighted on our "Heart and Lung Act" page also apply -- with one big feature being that the interplay betweek Act 534 benefits and workers compensation benefits is such that your employer pays the costs for you to have a dedicated personal attorney fighting for your rights in the workers compensation forum (which controls many elements of your related Act 534 claim, including the scope or description of the recognized work injury and your access to related medical treatment and critical medical support), for the duration of time you remain on Act 534 benefits. Meanwhile, your right to such benefits can be dramatically extended or protected by having savvy legal support working for you behind the scenes or actively litigating to protect, expand or extend your rights -- on the employer's dime -- in the workers compensation forum.
Understand that while Act 534 pays your full salary, part of those benefits are paid by the same workers compensation benefits other workers get -- but where you get the higher Act 534 rate, the workers compensation component is released to the employer to contribute to their funding of Act 534 benefits. If an attorneys fee gets attached in the workers compensation forum, this reduces the workers compensation amount kicked back to the employer but does NOT reduce your Act 534 payments. THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS: You get greatly increased protection for your Act 534 claim, personalized attention to have your rights recognized and all options preserved, and no fees or costs to you even where we succeed in litigation that would trigger attorneys fees in a strictly workers compensation claim.
Unlike the Heart and Lung Act, Act 534 benefits can't be unilaterally foreclosed by the employer through a finding that your injury is "permanent" (or, more properly, that it is "other than temporary.") That limiting language does not exist in Act 534, though many employers refuse to recognize this where you lack an attorney to properly present the issue in the proper forum.
When the time comes where your employer is exerting pressure to force you to return to work -- often while you are still injured and where going back to work is more than you could tolerate and really pursued only as a way for your employer to avoid its ongoing exposure and to deny you your rights -- we can give you options to fight back in the workers compensation forum that you will not have if you are only dealing with your employer in their own Act 534 "kangaroo court" (which will vary with each employer and subject only to the vaguest rules of due process). We can also hold open the prospect for converting your valuable rights into a lump sum settlement, before the employer railroads your claim into oblivion or hopelessness, by means of a negotiated settlement and "Compromise and Release" in the workers compensation forum.
But note that the employer will never make you aware of these options. The union may not be willing or able to fight for you -- or might know how to do so only in a "greivance" forum where the employer's influence holds sway and where even with success your remedies will be limited. Your most powerful tool -- for controlling the scope of your claim, the description of the injury for which the employer is legally responsible, and the terms under which the employer may force you back to work in light duty or end your claim -- is the Pennsylvania Workers Compensation Act, properly applied and enforced by a savvy attorney, dedicated to you personally and not beholden to the union or to employer politics, who understands the interplay between workers compensation and Act 534 benefits.
Do not limit your own options. Do not let the employer control your fate after an Act 534 injury. Call us. We can help.
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