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Letter to the Editor: Workers’ Compensation Decisions Deserve More Coverage
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Legal periodicals often overlook the significant workers’ compensation case law that emerges from Workers’ Compensation Judges, the Pa. Commonwealth Court, and the Pa. Supreme Court, as though those decisions are unworthy of publication.
This failure deprives the Pennsylvania bar and interested citizens of opportunities to learn about significant legal developments that apply workers’ compensation law to meaningful facts. These precedents matter deeply—not just for injured workers, but for the integrity of the legal profession and the rights of workers across the commonwealth.
On behalf of the entire Pennsylvania workers’ compensation bar, I ask The Legal Intelligencer to devote more resources to covering developments in the state’s workers’ compensation system.
The “ugly stepchild”
It’s frustrating and bewildering that workers’ compensation is often treated as the “ugly stepchild” of the legal system, not even as the “Cinderella.” It’s time for Pennsylvania’s workers’ compensation attorneys, trial judges, appellate judges, and administrators to receive due recognition for their roles in maintaining a system that’s administered efficiently, fairly, and judiciously.
The workers’ compensation practice is not a paper-pushing one. Workers’ Compensation Judges are among the busiest in the commonwealth, with hundreds of cases assigned to them. They listen to testimony daily, rule on objections and motions, and often volunteer to mediate over 100 cases per year.
In addition, the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation bar actively tries cases. Each case typically involves multiple hearings, depositions, and—over 90% of the time—two medical experts, along with other experts such as vocational professionals, surveillance specialists, and life care planners. There’s also a significant amount of documentary evidence. That’s why our cases are costly to litigate. Claimants’ attorneys often must invest over $10,000 per case solely in litigation expenses, including expert witnesses, medical records, vocational reports, and depositions. Workers’ compensation law in Pennsylvania is complex, nuanced, and requires all the demands of being an excellent trial attorney, i.e., being strategic, mastering rules of evidence, conducting effective examinations, and coordinating the receipt of injured workers’ other earned benefits.
More trials, more decisions
In the civil realm, approximately 10–20% of cases go to trial, depending on the source of the statistic. In contrast, in our practice, nearly 50% of workers’ compensation cases proceed to a final decision after a full trial record is created. I would venture to say that Jerry Lehocky, my co-founding partner at Pond Lehocky Giordano, has likely tried more cases to a decision before a fact-finding body than any other attorney in the commonwealth, if not the country.
And yet, Workers’ Compensation Judges consistently issue decisions more promptly than those in even the most well-managed civil systems. Our appellate courts manage a body of case law in workers’ compensation that’s second only to criminal law in its breadth. As practitioners, we’re not only required to be excellent trial lawyers, but we must also maintain a strong appellate arm within our practices. This duality has become second nature to workers’ compensation attorneys and their firms.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation system showed remarkable resilience and leadership. Under the direction of the Secretary of Labor and Industry, the Deputy Secretary, and the Director of Adjudication, the system ensured that justice would not be delayed in any way, shape, or form.
Within just two weeks of most courts shutting down in the spring of 2020, the entire adjudication system was fully operational—without a glitch—and has continued to function effectively and productively. The transition to a primarily remote model allowed the delivery of justice to continue uninterrupted, providing equitable access for injured and disabled individuals by removing the burden of travel to courtrooms. It was a model that other courts looked at with envy, and it is still, today, a model for using technology to adjudicate legal disputes efficiently.
Too important a practice to be left in the shadows
The dollars at stake each year in workers’ compensation cases total in the billions, but more importantly, the lives at stake number in the tens of thousands. These lives—and their families—are often devastated by catastrophic injuries and, unfortunately, death on the job. That’s why programs like Kids’ Chance of Pennsylvania exist. Kid’s Chance provides scholarship grants for college and vocational education to children of Pennsylvania workers who were killed or seriously injured in a work-related accident.
More media coverage of significant workers’ compensation court decisions will help members of the Pennsylvania bar and other interested readers better understand what the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation practice truly entails, the complexity it demands, and the level of commitment it requires from those who practice it. It will also ensure that safety in the workplace is top of mind.
While we admire our colleagues in civil and criminal law, we simply ask that the legal media acknowledge the work of the professionals in the Pennsylvania workers’ compensation system.
Reprinted with permission from the August 19, 2025, edition of The Legal Intelligencer © 2025 ALM Media Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited, contact 877-257-3382 or reprints@alm.com.
