Under the PA Workers’ Compensation Act, a Notice of Temporary Compensation Payable (NTCP) is issued after a work injury, when the workers’ compensation insurance carrier is unsure whether an injury occurred or the injured worker is disabled, and needs more time to investigate. When an NTCP is issued, the insurance company begins payment of workers’ compensation benefits. However, after further investigation, that could change. The insurance company has 90 days to continue their investigation. During that 90 days, the insurer can change their mind and stop the payment of benefits by filing a Notice of Denial and Notice Stopping Temporary Compensation Payable. If the injured worker disagrees with this decision, you can file a claim petition. Whether you should file a Claim Petition before the Notice of Temporary Compensation expires requires consultation with an experienced workers’ comp attorney. If after 90 days a Notice of Denial and Notice Stopping Temporary Compensation is not sent to you, the NTCP automatically changes to a real Notice of Compensation Payable and the insurance company continues to pay workers’ compensation benefits until one of these events happens. In reality, the NTCP is used to lull the injured worker into a false sense of security. In reality, it is NOT an admission of a work injury and are often revoked for no good reason. Often they are revoked just because the injured work returns to work or the doctors change the diagnosis from a lumbar strain to a herniated lumbar disc. There are things you should avoid so as to not provoke the issuance of the Notice Stopping Temporary Compensation and there are things you should do to increase the odds it will not be revoked.
If you have questions regarding your workers’ compensation benefits, it is important that you have an experienced Pennsylvania (PA) workers’ compensation attorney on your side. Call for free legal advice at Calhoon and Kaminsky P.C., at 717-695-4722, for more information.
