PRINTER'S NO. 128
No. 128 Session of 1989
INTRODUCED BY BELL, JANUARY 23, 1989
REFERRED TO LABOR AND INDUSTRY, JANUARY 23, 1989
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177, No.175), entitled
2 "An act providing for and reorganizing the conduct of the
3 executive and administrative work of the Commonwealth by the
4 Executive Department thereof and the administrative
5 departments, boards, commissions, and officers thereof,
6 including the boards of trustees of State Normal Schools, or
7 Teachers Colleges; abolishing, creating, reorganizing or
8 authorizing the reorganization of certain administrative
9 departments, boards, and commissions; defining the powers and
10 duties of the Governor and other executive and administrative
11 officers, and of the several administrative departments,
12 boards, commissions, and officers; fixing the salaries of the
13 Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and certain other executive
14 and administrative officers; providing for the appointment of
15 certain administrative officers, and of all deputies and
16 other assistants and employes in certain departments, boards,
17 and commissions; and prescribing the manner in which the
18 number and compensation of the deputies and all other
19 assistants and employes of certain departments, boards and
20 commissions shall be determined," changing references to
21 "workmen's" to "workers'."
22 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
23 hereby enacts as follows:
24 Section 1. As much as relates to the Department of Labor and
25 Industry in section 202 of the act of April 9, 1929 (P.L.177,
26 No.175), known as The Administrative Code of 1929, amended
27 February 8, 1972 (P.L.49, No.13), is amended to read:
1 Section 202. Departmental Administrative Boards,
2 Commissions, and Offices.--The following boards, commissions,
3 and offices are hereby placed and made departmental
4 administrative boards, commissions, or offices, as the case may
5 be, in the respective administrative departments mentioned in
6 the preceding section, as follows:
7 * * *
8 In the Department of Labor and Industry,
9 [Workmen's] Workers' Compensation Appeal Board,
10 State [Workmen's] Workers' Insurance Board,
11 The Industrial Board,
12 Unemployment Compensation Board of Review,
13 Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board,
14 Advisory Council on Affairs of the Handicapped;
15 * * *
16 Section 2. Section 207.1(d)(2) of the act, added November 8,
17 1976 (P.L.1109, No.227), is amended to read:
18 Section 207.1. Gubernatorial Appointments.--* * *
19 (d) The Governor shall nominate in accordance with the
20 provisions of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of
21 Pennsylvania and, by and with the advice and consent of a
22 majority of the members elected to the Senate appoint persons to
23 fill the following positions:
24 * * *
25 (2) Those members which he is authorized to appoint to the
26 Board of Pardons, the Board of Probation and Parole, the State
27 Civil Service Commission, the State Horse Racing Commission, the
28 State Harness Racing Commission, the Board of Arbitration of
29 Claims, the Pennsylvania Securities Commission, the Pennsylvania
30 Industrial Development Authority, the State Board of Education,
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1 the Board of State College and University Directors, the Board
2 of Trustees of Pennsylvania State University, the Board of
3 Trustees of the University of Pittsburgh, the Board of Trustees
4 of Temple University, the Board of Trustees of Lincoln
5 University, the Environmental Hearing Board, the Pennsylvania
6 Crime Commission, the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, the
7 Industrial Board, the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review,
8 the [Workmen's] Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, the State
9 Art Commission, the State Lottery Commission, the State
10 Transportation Commission and the Pennsylvania Human Relations
11 Commission.
12 * * *
13 Section 3. Section 441 of the act, amended June 29, 1976
14 (P.L.448, No.109), is amended to read:
15 Section 441. [Workmen's] Workers' Compensation Appeal
16 Board.--The [Workmen's] Workers' Compensation Appeal Board shall
17 consist of at least three appointed members, of whom the
18 Governor shall designate one as chairman; the Governor may, on
19 the recommendation of the Secretary of Labor and Industry,
20 increase the number of appointed members on the board. The
21 Secretary of Labor and Industry shall be, ex officio, a member
22 of the board. A majority of the total number of appointed
23 members on the board shall constitute a quorum, and no action of
24 the board shall be valid unless it shall have the concurrence of
25 such number of members and that number constitutes a majority of
26 the votes cast. A vacancy on the board shall not impair the
27 right of a quorum to exercise all the rights and perform all the
28 duties of the board.
29 The Secretary of Labor and Industry, with the approval of the
30 Governor, shall appoint a secretary to the [Workmen's] Workers'
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1 Compensation Appeal Board, who shall receive such salary as the
2 Secretary of Labor and Industry, with the approval of the
3 Governor, shall determine.
4 Section 4. Section 442 of the act, amended May 3, 1974
5 (P.L.271, No.76) is amended to read:
6 Section 442. [Workmen's] Workers' Compensation Referees.--
7 There shall be, in the Department of Labor and Industry, as many
8 [Workmen's] Workers' Compensation Referees, as, in the judgment
9 of the Secretary of Labor and Industry, shall be necessary
10 properly to administer the [workmen's] workers' compensation
11 laws of the Commonwealth. Such referees shall be appointed by
12 and subject to the direction and control of the Secretary of
13 Labor and Industry. The Secretary of Labor and Industry shall
14 assign them to the various [workmen's] workers' compensation
15 districts, and shall prescribe from time to time the duties to
16 be performed by them.
17 All positions as [Workmen's] Workers' Compensation Referees
18 now existing or hereafter created shall be in the classified
19 service in conformity with the act of August 5, 1941 (P.L.752,
20 No.286), known as the "Civil Service Act": Provided, That
21 persons occupying such positions on the day before the effective
22 date of this amendment shall serve the maximum probationary
23 period authorized by section 603 of the "Civil Service Act,"
24 beginning on effective date of this amendatory act: And provided
25 further, That any handicapped person subsequently appointed to
26 the position of a [Workmen's] Workers' Compensation Referee
27 prior to October 15, 1972 shall serve the maximum probationary
28 period authorized by section 603 of the "Civil Service Act"
29 beginning on the date of his appointment.
30 Section 5. Section 2208 of the act, amended February 8, 1972
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1 (P.L.49, No.13), is amended to read:
2 Section 2208. [Workmen's] Workers' Compensation and
3 Occupational Disease.--The Department of Labor and Industry
4 shall have the power, and its duty shall be:
5 (a) To administer and enforce the laws of this Commonwealth,
6 as now existing or hereafter enacted, relating to [workmen's]
7 workers' compensation and occupational disease compensation:
8 Provided, however, That the [Workmen's] Workers' Compensation
9 Appeal Board shall perform their duties independently of the
10 Secretary of Labor and Industry, or any other official of the
11 department, except that all clerical, stenographic and other
12 assistance required by the [Workmen's] Workers' Compensation
13 Appeal Board shall be appointed by the department as provided in
14 this act;
15 (b) To receive and classify reports of all accidents and
16 injuries; to receive and examine or disapprove agreements,
17 supplemental agreements, notices, receipts, final receipts, and
18 other papers in [workmen's] workers' compensation cases and
19 order the correction of any errors therein and by general rule,
20 to regulate or waive the filing, approval or disapproval of such
21 papers in the interest of fair, practical and prompt resolution
22 of the rights of the parties, as provided by law;
23 (c) To follow up in all cases in which [workmen's] workers'
24 compensation is payable, and see that compensation is paid
25 promptly and in accordance with the laws of this Commonwealth;
26 (d) To advise injured [workmen] workers and others of their
27 rights under the [workmen's] workers' compensation laws;
28 (e) From time to time, to divide the State into such number
29 of [workmen's] workers' compensation districts as it may deem
30 advisable for the proper administration of the [workmen's]
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1 workers' compensation laws;
2 (f) To receive and refer to [Workmen's] Workers'
3 Compensation Referees all claims for compensation in contested
4 or unpaid cases and to receive and refer to the [Workmen's]
5 Workers' Compensation Appeal Board all appeals from decisions of
6 Referees and to mail copies of decisions to all affected
7 parties;
8 (g) To render to the [Workmen's] Workers' Compensation
9 Appeal Board any reasonable assistance requested by the board in
10 the conduct of its work;
11 (h) Except in cases in which the Commonwealth's liability
12 therefor is covered by insurance, to prepare and issue to the
13 Auditor General certificates or requisitions for the payment of
14 [workmen's] workers' compensation to injured employes of the
15 Commonwealth.
16 Section 6. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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