Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Refuses to Offset Fatal Claim Benefits
When an injured worker receives workers' compensation benefits, those benefits can be offset or reduced when the injured worker begins to collect his or her Social Security Retirement benefits. The amount by which th workers' compensation benefit is reduced is determined by how much the injured worker receives in Social Security Retirement benefits. However, in the case of Zurich vs. WCAB (Bryan), the Commonwealth Court was faced with determining how this applies to a case where a widow was receiving fatal claim benefits as a result of her husband's fatal work injury when he fell from a crane. At the time of the husband's death, neither the victim nor his widow were collecting their Social Security Retirement benefits. Subsequent to the tragedy, the widow began to receive the benefits based on her status as the surviving widow of the decedent. The workers' compensation insurance carrier attempted to reduce her workers' compensation benefits based on her receipt of the Social Security Retirement benefits. However, the Court examined the applicable statute and found no mention of applying the offset to fatal claim benefits and refused to do so. The widow was entitled to continue receiving the workers' compensation fatal claim benefits without any reduction.
