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Pa. Panel Says Worker's Suicide Doesn't Bar Workers' Comp
Law360 (May 24, 2021, 3:52 PM EDT) -- In a decision published Monday, a Pennsylvania appeals court rejected arguments that evidence of planning that went into a former transit worker's decision to commit suicide after suffering an on-the-job back injury meant that his family wasn't eligible to receive death benefits through the state's workers' compensation system.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority had hoped to avoid paying death benefits to the family of Gregory Hansell based on case law limiting suicide-related payments to instances where a worker's "normal, rational judgment" is lost to a mental disturbance caused by an on-the-job injury.