Back to News June 13, 2025
The Pa. General Assembly Should Protect the Commonwealth’s Workers By Passing House Bill 183
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Barbara was working in the cafeteria of a local hospital—where she had been working for sixteen years—when the shuttle van that normally picked her up in one area of the parking lot and drove her to the opposite side of the campus did not show up. Fearing being late, Barbara began walking across the lot. A trash truck that was backing up in that lot, without the required reverse beeping warning horn, ran her over as it was exiting the lot. Barbara’s right leg was pulled under the tires of the truck causing all the skin on that leg to be “degloved” or ripped off from her leg.
Barbara spent the next six months in the hospital undergoing over 30 skin graft surgeries. Subcutaneous balloons expanded the skin on her left leg in order to graft, piece by piece, enough skin to recover her right leg. As a result, Barbara was left with horrific scarring on both her legs from her hips to her feet.
Barbara’s highly visible disfigurement is as emotionally painful as it is physically painful. She is ashamed of the scars, feeling everyone who sees her—family, friends, and strangers—stares at them with horror. Her self-esteem has plummeted, as she feels her scarring defines who she is and dictates what people think of her.Barbara’s case is one of many cases my law firm represents, and has represented through the years, in which individuals have suffered life-changing injuries that have left them permanently disfigured. As of today, however, the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act (the “WCA”) would not allow Barbara to recover additional damages for her disfigurement. Section 306(c)(22) of the WCA only permits special compensation for unsightly “serious and permanent disfigurement of the head, neck and face.”
Fortunately for injured workers across Pennsylvania, there may be hope on the horizon.
House Bill 183 rights the disfigurement wrong
The Pennsylvania General Assembly can give the Barbaras in Pennsylvania the opportunity to receive disfigurement benefits when they’ve been disfigured on parts of their body other than their head, neck, and face through House Bill No. 183. The bill would amend section 306(c)(22) of the WCA to cover “serious and permanent disfigurement of the body.” It would also extend the time for disfigurement benefits from 275 weeks to up to 400 weeks.
Given that the WCA became law in June 1915, this is a bill that modernizes the WCA to reflect modern society and modern times. Today, societal norms and fashion trends mean more people are revealing more parts of their bodies year-round in public. It’s not unusual to see short sleeves, skirts, and dresses in December, and for people of all body types to wear revealing clothes in public, such as at the gym, on the beach, or at a swimming pool. Thus, today, injured workers’ disfigurements on their bodies are likely to be seen by others almost as often, if not as often, as disfigurements on their heads, necks, and faces.
More importantly, House Bill No. 183 rights a constitutional wrong. The WCA—and all workers’ compensation schemes across the U.S.—result from the “Grand Bargain” that workers collectively agreed to. In exchange for forgoing their constitutional due process rights to sue their employers for injuries they suffered on the job, they agreed to subject themselves to an administrative regime that pays them benefits covering the wages lost and medical expenses they incurred because of their injuries.
Under the current version of section 306, injured workers who suffer permanent disfigurement below the neck are denied both a civil suit and damages for their disfigurement. House Bill 183 would fix this and fulfill the original promise of the workers’ compensation system by protecting workers when they are disfigured because of work injuries.
Disfigurement is disfigurement, no matter where on a person’s body it occurs. It is ridiculous and unconscionable that today the WCA does not compensate workers who have suffered grotesque disfigurements on their bodies, such as having their chests blown apart and sewn back up, their legs degloved, their hands mangled, or their arms burned from the elbow down.
There are no good arguments against passing House Bill 183
Pennsylvania is in the minority of states that do not provide injured workers increased benefits for scarring below the clavicle. Amending the WCA to make those benefits available is the kind of support Pennsylvania’s injured workers should expect from their state government, and the kind of bill for which there should be no organized opposition.
But there is.
Opponents of House Bill 183, mostly workers’ compensation insurers and self-insured employers, argue that the proposed language leaves too much room for interpretation by removing limits on the applicable body parts, and that it would allow injured workers to collect benefits for many scars and disfigurements, opening the door to abuse.
This argument underestimates the professionalism and judgment of Pennsylvania’s Workers’ Compensation Judges. These judges already have broad discretion to determine injured workers’ eligibility for benefits, but under current law their hands are tied, even in the most ghastly cases, if the disfigurement is not of a worker’s head, neck, or face. With vast experience interpreting the law and applying it to the facts of each case, these judges can discern which claims warrant benefits and for how long.
The same principle applies to the extended period of compensation. House Bill 183 does not require judges to grant the full 400 weeks in every case. It simply empowers them to do so where the facts justify it. In House Bill 183, the General Assembly is deferring to Workers’ Compensation Judges and their experience. That deference—and underlying trust—is something Pennsylvanians should celebrate as a sign of a well-functioning governmental system of checks and balances.
Other opponents claim House Bill 183 could increase costs for workers’ compensation insurers and employers. Putting aside the veracity of that claim—more on that in a moment—this concern should not justify maintaining an outdated and unjust statutory provision. Workers’ Compensation Judges, not insurance companies, should be trusted to make case-by-case decisions about the compensation injured workers deserve. Removing the shackles that prevent them from providing appropriate outcomes should not be an issue judged by looking at dollars and cents. Experts should use their training and judgment to serve Pennsylvania’s injured workers fairly.
Additionally, in Pennsylvania, workers’ compensation insurance has become a cash cow and profit center for insurers and self-insureds alike. They are making money hand over fist. It’s been many years since workers’ compensation insurers lost money in a particular year because of the benefits they paid in Pennsylvania. If there are any price increases, they would be on the margins and would not be high enough to scare any insurers out of the marketplace.
On top of that, in third-party cases where injured workers successfully recover in a lawsuit they file against a third, non-employer party in connection with their work injuries, they cannot “double dip” by receiving compensation from two sources for the same injury. Section 319 of the WCA allows employers or their insurance carriers to be “subrogated to the right of the employee” when a third party is liable for causing a worker’s injury for which they were entitled to workers’ compensation benefits. This subrogation comes as a lien an employer or insurance carrier will place on the recovery an injured worker secures in their lawsuit against the third party, which allows the employer or carrier to recoup what it has paid in workers’ compensation benefits.
It’s time for the General Assembly to help Pennsylvania join the majority of states regarding disfigurement benefits
It is unthinkable that, in a society that claims to protect injured workers who have been injured through no fault of their own, we do not compensate them for their serious, permanent, and unsightly disfigurement or scarring below their clavicle. Though Pennsylvania’s workers’ compensation scheme has often been a model for what a progressive scheme looks like, the majority of states extend disfigurement benefits to the entire body. Pennsylvania is lagging in this area.
House Bill 183 is an opportunity for the General Assembly to right a significant, constitutional wrong and ensure Pennsylvania’s injured workers are rightfully compensated for all disfigurements caused by their work injuries.
Jerry M. Lehocky is a founding partner of Pond Lehocky Giordano Inc., the largest workers’ compensation and Social Security disability law firm in Pennsylvania, and one of the largest in the United States. He can be contacted at jlehocky@pondlehocky.com.
Reprinted with permission from the June 9, 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.
