When the General Assembly amended �204(a) of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, the intent was to reduce the escalating costs of workers’ compensation by allowing employers an offset against workers’ compensation benefits for Social Security, severance packages and pension plans simultaneously received by injured workers.
Section 204(a) was also intended to prevent double recoveries by injured workers for benefit plans funded in some measure by their employers. In response to the 1996 reforms, the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation promulgated a series of regulations to establish the framework and methodology for calculating employer benefit offsets. Some of these provisions are simple to follow, while others are quite complex. One such methodology addresses the amount of an offset against employer-funded pension plans.
