The employer is not entitled to a credit for benefits received by a claimant under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

In this case, the claimant suffered an injury during the course and scope of her employment as a substitute teacher for the employer. The employer acknowledged the injury by way of Notice of Compensation Payable (NCP). The claimant was concurrently employed as an in-home care attendant at the time of the work injury. She returned to her pre-injury teaching job, but restrictions prevented her from returning to her concurrent position. In March of 2020, the claimant was laid off from her teaching job and filed a petition seeking a reinstatement of benefits. After the layoff, she began collecting weekly unemployment compensation benefits, as well as benefits under the CARES Act (Pandemic Compensation).

The Workers’ Compensation Judge granted the reinstatement petition and found the employer was entitled to a credit for the unemployment compensation benefits the claimant received. However, the judge did not give the employer a credit for the Pandemic Compensation. The employer appealed this issue to the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board, which affirmed. 

On appeal to the Commonwealth Court, the employer argued that they were entitled to a credit for the Pandemic Compensation benefits the claimant received under § 204(a) of the Act. According to the employer, although the Pandemic Compensation was federally funded, § 204 (a) made no such distinction when mandating a credit for the receipt of unemployment compensation benefits. The court rejected this argument and affirmed the decisions of the judge and Board below. According to the court, the legislative intent behind § 204(a) was to prevent an employer from having to pay duplicate benefits for the same loss of earnings. Disallowing a credit for Pandemic Compensation wholly paid by another entity does no disservice to the overall purpose of § 204(a), nor does it place the employer in the position of paying duplicate benefits for the same loss of earnings.

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