Commonwealth Affirms Individuals Are Entitled to Benefits Regardless of Earning Status Outside of Volunteer Duties
In a victory for the Commonwealth's fire and ambulance volunteers, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has affirmed that such individuals are entitled to workers' compensation benefits regardless of their earning status outside of their volunteer duties. In Borough of Heidelberg and Inservco Insurance Services Inc. v. WCAB (Selva), they rejected the employer's argument that the volunteer worker (injured while performing her volunteer duties) in the case should have been denied workers' compensation benefits because she had no other paying job and was not actively engaged in the workforce. THe Court held that it was the Pennsylvania State Legislature's intention for "those partaking in this laudable and selfless profession are entitled, at a minimum, to the presumed statewide average weekly wage." As a result, volunteers are entitled to workers' compensation benefits based on imputed earnings of no less than what the average Pennsylvania worker made in the year that the injury occurred.
