Notifying Employers About Workers' Compensation Claims

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently clarified when claimants who suffer cumulative trauma injuries must first raise their workers' compensation claims. A typist who worked for the City of Philadelphia was diagnosed with bilateral carpal tunnel condition in January of 1996 but did not notify the city of her problems until she quit her job more than a year after the diagnosis. Workers generally have 120 days to notify their employers of the existence of a work-related injury.

The supreme court ruled that, with cumulative trauma injuries, a worker has 120 days from the last day of injury at the workplace, not from the first day of injury, to give notice to his or her employer. The court stated that "[w]e find that in the instance of a cumulative trauma, where credited medical evidence shows that each day of work causes an aggravation or new injury, the 120-day notice period begins to run on the last day a work-related aggravation injury is suffered, which will usually be the last day of work."

Employees whose injuries are related to cumulative trauma should keep careful records of their work activities if they continue to work after the first sign of injury. An employee who continues to work and later files a claim will need to be able to show that a work-related aggravation occurred after the initial injury. Likewise, employers must realize that the occurrence of a daily re-injury to an employee keeps the clock running on the timeliness of the employee's claim.

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