Department of Labor & Industry, Bureau of Workers' Compensation v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board

OPINION

Justice BAER.

We granted review to consider whether a Workers’ Compensation employer’s insurance carrier should be reimbursed from the Supersedeas Fund for specific payments made to a claimant prior to the ultimate grant of supersedeas. The question turns on whether the relevant payments constituted payments of “compensation” within the meaning of Section 443 of the Workers’ Compensation Act (“WCA”), 77 P.S. § 999(a), or, as argued by Appellant Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (“Bureau”), whether the payments are not reimbursable because they constitute payment of legal costs associated…