You may remember that we addressed this issue in July 2014. If not, you can read that article here.
The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has handed down a new case on March 9, 2016. So has this changed the legal ground with reference to the settlement of a workers’ compensation case and subsequent entitlement to unemployment compensation in Pennsylvania? The answer, no, not really.
As we stated in our previous post, Lee v. UCBR set the standard in cases where a resignation letter is signed as part of a workers’ compensation settlement.
When an employee resigns from employment, the burden to prove eligibility for unemployment falls to the employee to prove a necessitous and compelling reason for resignation. Specifically, in Lee v. UCBR, The Commonwealth Court made it quite difficult to meet that burden when voluntarily resigning as part of a workers compensation settlement.
This case did not change that case-law.
Essentially, if you resign as part of a workers’ compensation settlement, and your resignation effectively ends your light duty assignment, you are not going to be eligible for unemployment compensation. If the employer is not accommodating your light duty and you’ve been asked to resign to settle your workers’ compensation, you should seek the advice of an experienced workers compensation attorney to protect and explain your right to both your settlement and unemployment compensation after settlement.
Never settle your case without the advice of counsel. The rights under both Acts are simply to valuable to go it alone. Fore a FREE consultation, call our law firm at 717-200-HURT or 1-877-632-4656. Mooney & associates stands ready to protect and fight for you against the insurance carrier! Don’t want to call or have time, then drop me an email at mab@mooney4law.com.
