With the recent oil and natural gas developments, jurisdictional issues are increasingly beginning to arise; Pennsylvania and related workers’ compensation claims are no exception. Recently, two New York residents were injured while working in Pennsylvania for an Ohio-based company. These claims were initially opened and accepted with the Ohio State Insurance Company. However, after the claimants hired representation, the cases were properly moved to Pennsylvania, given the location where the injury occurred.

The claimants sought to file their claims in Pennsylvania given the state’s known claimant friendly system. The Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act is applicable to all injuries occurring within Pennsylvania, regardless of where the contract of hiring was made, renewed, or extended (Section 101, 77 P.S. Section 1). The Act’s general applicability has been upheld based on the Full Faith and Credit clause of the United States Constitution, where the sole connection between the state and the employment relationship was the fact that the injury occurred in Pennsylvania. Jaylines, Inc. v. WCAB (Manuel), 443 A.2d 1370 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1982).

 

What It Means to You

Moving forward, the location of the injury no matter the claimant’s residence or employer’s place of business will become increasingly crucial with the more transient nature of the workforce and the rise in out of state employers and employees. In order to define proper venue, proper jurisdiction should be one of the first issues reviewed when a new claim is opened.