Kelly v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board

DISSENTING OPINION BY

Judge LEAVITT.

I respectfully dissent from the majority’s holding that a “severance benefit” under Section 204(a) of the Workers’ Compensation Act (Act), 77 P.S. § 71(a),1 is a type of benefit paid only where the employee’s severance is permanent. This narrow reading of “severance” is without authority in the language of the Act or in the regulation implementing Section 204(a). Most significantly, by allowing Claimant to recover double benefits for a single wage loss, the majority defies the purpose of Section 204(a) as it was defined by our Supreme Court in Kramer v.…