In these unprecedented times brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees and employers are being forced to navigate the uncertainty of reality each and every day. It has become commonplace to hear about children being required to attend school virtually or on a hybrid track. Similarly, a great deal of employees are being asked to work from home because of the pandemic. Employers are scrambling to manage not only their brick and mortgage office, but also their new virtual offices in employees’ homes. Needless to say, there are multiple considerations for the employees and employers in these regards. One of concerns is the subject of this article, and that is, what are the workers’ compensation ramifications of employees working from home. From an employee’s perspective, the injured worker may be asking if he or she has the same protections pursuant to the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act if he or she was injured at home as opposed to getting injured at work.  Conversely, from an employer’s perspective, the concern may be whether a Pandora’s box has been opened by COVID as to multiple claims where an investigation may be difficult and there is a lack of supervision when an employee is injured at home versus injured at the office.  While no one can predict how long the pandemic will last, employers are closely evaluating whether to allow employees that are currently working at home to continue to do so, even after there is the development and implementation of a vaccine. Thus, the trend of working at home with virtual offices is here to stay for at least the foreseeable future.

Because of the above, it is important for employers to consider the ramifications and potential liabilities that working from home (WFH) brings. If an employee is working from home and sustains an injury, does that injury qualify as a work-place injury, even though the employee is no longer on the employer’s premises, but in the his or her own home?