Commonwealth Court Affirms Employers Can Be Liable for Penalties If They Cease Paying Medical Bills
The Commonwealth Court affirmed their position that if an employer unilaterally ceases to pay a claimant's medical bills on causation grounds, they can be held liable for penalties if a workers' compensation judge finds that the billsare causally related to the work injury. However, the Court reaffirmed that the imposition of a penalty in this situation is at the discretion of the workers' compensation judge.
In Delarosa v. WCAB (Masonic Homes), the claimant settled the partial disability benefits of her case through a lump sum settlement, but her employer remained liable for any reasonable and necessary medical expenses that are incurred as related to her work injury. The settlement occurred in 1997. In early 1998, the claimant filed a penalty petition against the employer, alleging that the employer had failed to reasonable medical expenses incurred by the claimant between 1996 and 1998 as a result of her work injury. In question was if the medical treatment was causally related to the claimant's work injury. The Court found that the treatment was medically necessary and related to her work injury and ordered the employer to pay for the expenses. With regards to the penalty petition, the Court stated that the imposition of a penalty in these types of situations is up to the workers' compensation judge who hears the penalty, and not the Court, and thus, denied the penalty petition.
