City of Pittsburgh v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board

OPINION

Chief Justice CASTILLE 1

This appeal involves the assignment of the burden of proof in a workers’ compensation case when the employer seeks to modify or suspend a claimant’s benefits on the basis that the claimant has retired. The Commonwealth Court plurality devised a “totality of the circumstances” test and concluded that the employer in the case sub judice failed to show that the injured worker had voluntarily withdrawn from the workforce. For the reasons herein, we affirm the order of the Commonwealth Court.

Dorothy Robinson (“Claimant”) began working as a police officer of the City…