Supreme Court to Address Posthumous Specific Loss Benefits

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will address whether specific loss benefits should be limited posthumously to workers who die because of a cause unrelated to the work injury. In Steets v. Celebration Fireworks Inc., a divided Commonwealth Court ruled that when an employee dies due to a work injury while collecting total disability benefits and before specific loss benefits are payable, the only specific loss payments payable by the employer are reasonable funeral expenses. This meant Celebration’s only statutory obligation was to pay $7,000 in expenses for the death of Kristina Ste...