Court Opinion

ID: 9773793
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:58:40.176993+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:57.420840
License: Public Domain

CONCURRING OPINION BY
Judge LEAVITT.
I concur in the majority’s conclusion to suspend Claimant’s compensation. I write separately because I disagree with the majority’s “totality of the circumstances” test, which requires the employer to prove that a claimant who has elected to go on a pension has withdrawn from the workforce by showing (i) job availability and (ii) the claimant has not looked for work.
Pennsylvania courts have already established a legal standard for retirement cases, set forth in cases such as County of Allegheny (Department of Public Works) v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Weis), 872 A.2d 263, 265 (Pa.Cmwlth. 2005). This case law establishes a presumption that an employee collecting a pension is presumed to have withdrawn from the work force. It is the responsibility of the claimant to rebut this presumption with evidence that he has continued to *643work or with evidence that he has been forced out of the entire job market by the work injury. Without a presumption that an employee who chooses a pension has voluntarily withdrawn from the workplace, the employer will bear the “prohibitive” burden of having to show that “a claimant has no intention of continuing to work.” Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board (Henderson), 543 Pa. 74, 79, 669 A.3d 911, 913 (1995). For the reasons set forth in my dissenting opinion in City of Pittsburgh v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Robinson), 4 A.3d 1130 (Pa.Cmwlth.2010) (Leavitt, J., dissenting), I do not agree with the majority’s additions to the Weis test.
Judge PELLEGRINI joins in this concurring opinion.