Baksalary v. Smith

For nearly two decades, federal courts have endeavored to define the contours of due process rights applicable to state and federal entitlement programs. Today, this court turns its attention to the procedural constraints that due process places upon the Pennsylvania system of workmen’s compensation terminations.

In Goldberg v. Kelly, 397 U.S. 254, 90 S.Ct. 1011, 25 L.Ed.2d 287 (1969), the Supreme Court made it clear that the creation of a state entitlement program vests its recipients with due process protection against arbitrary termination of benefits. While Goldberg mandated an evidentiary…