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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | February 29, 2024 03:01 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Tim Brennan and Rep. Jose Giral |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Protecting the rights of Non-Native Speaking Working People and Removing Barriers to Access Workers’ Compensation |
Working people should receive workers’ compensation benefits when a work injury or illness puts them out of work. Whether a worker ultimately receives those benefits and whether they continue often hinges on the forms that are filed by insurers with the Department of Labor and Industry. If a worker is forced to litigate his or her rights, existing law also requires their employer/insurer to reimburse them for the costs of a successful litigation. Unlike in the case of Pennsylvania unemployment benefits, where a multilingual addendum is provided, Pennsylvania workers’ compensation forms do not provide substantive notices in multiple languages. Importantly, some of these forms can lead to an immediate cessation of benefits, without due process or judicial review, if a timely response is not made. Further, because of a lack of specific statutory authorization, the cost of a translator or interpreter, after a successful litigation, is not always included in ordered reimbursements. As a result, the law does not allow non-native speaking working people the same access to the protections of the law. Our bill will address these issues by requiring workers’ compensation forms to include substantive notices in multiple languages. Additionally, it will more specifically provide for the reimbursement of translator or interpreter fees after successful litigation. Pennsylvania law helps to mitigate the loss of income as a result of a workplace injury or illness, and no one should be deprived of these rights because of a language barrier. Our bill will reduce these major barriers to access the benefits that are afforded to other working Pennsylvanians. Please join us by sponsoring this bill to protect all Pennsylvanians. Workers’ compensation protects working people and it is time to reduce the language barrier to accessing benefits. |