In the last few months, claimants’ counsel has been experiencing delays in receiving their clients’ weekly benefit checks, settlement checks, and the like. Obviously, the late payments have resulted in many difficulties for the claimants in managing to pay bills. In some cases, requests were made for checks to be cancelled and payment reissued. Unfortunately, this solution did not “fix” the problem as the recent delays with the USPS First-Class Mail was and continues to be the culprit to the untimeliness, which has posed a problem across the entire state. Recently, the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation acknowledged the delays with the United States Postal Service related to First-Class Mail specifically related to claimant’s receipt of benefits in a timely manner. As a result, the Bureau has also acknowledged that there has been an increase in the filing of Penalty Petitions for the delay.
To avoid unnecessary litigation costs related to Penalty Petitions filed by claimants for the delay associated with USPS First-Class Mail, we recommend that the workers’ compensation insurance carrier consider direct deposit. To initiate the process for direct deposit, a LIBC 10 Form, Authorization for Alternative Delivery of Compensation Benefits, should be issued to claimants. You can also find the LIBC 10 Form here.
