What happens when a claimant moves while they are still collecting workers’ compensation? After one worker moved she was accused of “withdrawing from the labor market” which can be grounds for an employer to stop workers’ comp benefits. She still needed her benefits, however, and took her case to the Pennsylvania courts.

Mary Ellen Chesik had a work related cervical sprain/strain in 2009 and was receiving weekly benefits when she moved from Scranton, PA to Nevada in 2013. She told the workers’ compensation judge that she had moved because she suffered from lupus and fibromyalgia and she wanted a drier climate. She said those conditions were unrelated to her work or her work injury and she went on her own accord, no physician recommended the move. She also said that she had “retired” in October of 2012 and sought a disability pension in December of 2012. She could not find a job in Scranton and was not working in Nevada because of her pain, but she said if she could work there she would. The judge suspended her benefits because she had voluntarily withdrawn from working, a decision that was not based on her work injury, and she was collecting a pension. The appeal board upheld that decision, saying she was not forced into retirement and because of her voluntary move to Nevada, had removed herself from the Scranton workforce.

It is interesting to note that if she had moved out of the country she may have been considered removed from the workforce and this case may have turned out differently.

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania reversed earlier decisions. They said just because Chesik moved does not mean she was voluntarily taking herself out of the workforce. There is still a workforce in Nevada. The pain from her injury prevented her from seeking employment, and that pain is not necessarily her voluntary decision. Also, just because she was collecting a pension does not necessarily mean she permanently exited the workforce either. It is merely a “presumption of retirement” which in the court’s eyes is not enough evidence to say that she had entirely removed herself from the workforce.