Court Opinion

ID: 9746457
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 14:17:03.334058+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:13.329054
License: Public Domain

Justice EAKIN,
concurring.
I agree with the majority that § 204(a) of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, 77 P.S. § 71(a), allows both self-insured and privately-insured employers to offset Workers’ Compensation benefits in the amount of a severance payment. However, I write separately because I do not agree that § 204(a) is ambiguous with respect to the question presented here. I find the phrase “employer directly liable for the payment of compensation and the benefits from a pension plan” is clear and unambiguous. See id. Rite Aid is the employer directly responsible for providing its employees with Workers’ Compensation coverage and pension benefits. If Rite Aid decides to contract that responsibility out to a private insurance company, it does not absolve Rite Aid of its duty to provide such benefits to its employees. Thus, Rite Aid remains the “employer directly liable for the payment of compensation and the benefits from a pension plan” despite the fact that Rite Aid does not directly send the Workers’ Compensation payments to its injured employees.
I agree that the legislature included the phrase “employer directly liable” in § 204(a) to account for a situation where a claimant has more than one employer. Majority Op., at 328-30, 883 A.2d at 530. If a claimant is currently receiving compensation from a previous employer for a permanent injury, for example, and is also currently receiving Workers’ Compensation benefits relative to a separate injury from his current employer when he is laid-off and receives a severance payment, the phrase “employer directly liable” ensures that only the current employer takes the offset. I also agree that the General Assembly did not intend for § 204(a) to permit a *341self-insured employer to take the offset, and yet deny privately-insured employers the same privilege. Majority Op., at 328-31, 883 A.2d at 530-31. However, while I agree that both self-insured and privately-insured employers are entitled to the offset, I do not believe it is necessary to engage in statutory construction to reach such a conclusion. I would hold both the self-insured and privately-insured employers are entitled to the offset, and that the private insurer in this scenario is entitled to take the offset by virtue of employer’s entitlement to the offset.
Thus, I would hold § 204(a) is unambiguous, and it means just what it says, i.e., that the employer directly liable for the payment of compensation or pension benefits—whether the employer pays those benefits himself or contracts with a private insurance company to pay his employees those benefits—is entitled to an offset in the amount of a severance benefit against an award of Workers’ Compensation benefits.
Justice NIGRO joins this concurring opinion.