Court Opinion

ID: 9746456
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 14:17:03.330186+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:13.328417
License: Public Domain

Justice SAYLOR,
concurring.
I join the majority opinion, except in two respects. First, I agree with Claimant that it is not wholly apt to characterize the receipt of workers’ compensation benefits and a severance, negotiated under a collective bargaining agreement, as a double benefit or recovery, particularly in light of the legislative compromise between loss-spreading and insulation of employers from tort liability on which the workers’ compensation system is premised. See Lewis v. School Dist. of Phila., 517 Pa. 461, 471-72, 538 A.2d 862, 867 (1988). Instead, I view Section 204(a) as coordinating an employer’s existing contractual obligations with its liability arising under the Workers’ Compensation Act, while ensuring that a claimant receives benefits for the reduction in earning capacity attributable to the work-related injury.
Second, I differ with the majority opinion to the extent that it can be interpreted as foreclosing an equal protection claim on the basis that no classification is present, because the pertinent statutory language does not specifically address the class of non-injured workers. See Majority Opinion, at 331-35, 883 A.2d at 532-33. Cf. Hooper v. Bernalillo County *340Assessor, 472 U.S. 612, 105 S.Ct. 2862, 86 L.Ed.2d 487 (1985) (holding that a state tax exemption statute that applies only to veterans living in the state before a specified date violated equal protection principles). Nonetheless, I agree with the majority’s application of the rational basis test to Section 204(a), as well as the ultimate conclusion that the statutory provision is not violative of equal protection principles.