Hannaberry HVAC v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board

I respectfully dissent from the conclusion that § 309(d) is ambiguous, requiring us to engage in statutory interpretation to fashion a desired result for unfortunate cases such as appellant’s. Like it or not, the statute provides a simple and explicit formula for calculation of wages, and there is no exception for the present scenario; an oversight which leads to a harsh result is not the equivalent of ambiguity. See Scanlon v. DPW, Dept. of Aging, 739 A.2d 635, 638 (Pa. Cmwlth.1999) (statute is ambiguous or unclear if its language is subject to two or more reasonable interpretations).

In…