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Injured workers suffer when custom triumphs over workers' comp law

Today, much of what is happening in the workers' compensation system is based on custom, not the law or even best practices.

By Samuel H. Pond | January 18, 2023 at 12:55 AM
I implore all players within the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation system, but especially the claimants’ bar, to step up and do the right thing for their clients by eliminating their blind reliance on customs over the clear letter of the law. Injured workers may bear the brunt of this reliance, but as I noted above, employers suffer as well. (Credit: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com) I implore all players within the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation system, but especially the claimants’ bar, to step up and do the right thing for their clients by eliminating their blind reliance on customs over the clear letter of the law. Injured workers may bear the brunt of this reliance, but as I noted above, employers suffer as well. (Credit: Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com)

Attorneys, as creatures of precedent and habit, can be lulled into believing that a way to do something is the way to do it simply because that’s the customary way it has been done. It’s one thing when support for such a custom can be found in a statute, regulation or case law. It’s a different story when the only support for a custom is that other people have done the same thing previously without pushback or consequence.

Unfortunately, the players in Pennsylvania’s workers’ compensation system seem to be following the latter, problematic, path. Today, much of what is happening in that system is based on custom, not the law or even best practices. Injured workers are suffering because of it.

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