77 P.S. § 710.1 Workers' Compensation Appeal Board

• Library: Pennsylvania Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through P.A. Acts 2023-27
• Year: 2023
• Citation: 77 P.S. § 710.1

(a) The Workers' Compensation Appeal Board shall consist of at least three, and not more than fifteen, members appointed by the Governor, of whom the Governor shall designate one as chairman. An en banc board shall consist of all the appointed members on the board, a majority of which shall constitute a quorum, and no action of the board shall be valid unless it shall have the concurrence of such number of members and that number constitutes a majority of the votes cast. Where there are more than three appointed members, the board may sit in panels of three, all three members shall constitute a quorum and no action taken by a panel shall be valid unless it shall have the concurrence of a majority of the panel members. When a majority of any such panel has reached a decision, the chair of the panel shall assign the writing of an opinion and order to a panel member. The panel member shall prepare a draft opinion and award and transmit it to the secretary of the board for circulation and review to all members of the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board. Each member of the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board shall be entitled to a period of thirty (30) days from the date a draft opinion on behalf of a majority of a panel is placed in circulation by the secretary of the board in which to concur in, comment on, object to or dissent from the proposed draft opinion and award. Concurrences, comments, objections and dissents shall be transmitted to the chairman of the board, the secretary of the board and the board member responsible for writing the draft opinion. A board member who does not submit a written response to a proposed draft opinion and order circulated shall be deemed to concur in the opinion and order as drafted and initially placed in circulation in conformity with the procedure set forth in subsection (a). If, at the conclusion of the thirty-day period, a majority of the members of the board have failed to concur in the draft opinion and order as circulated, the Chairman of the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board, in consultation with the chair of the panel that heard the case in question, shall reassign the opinion to a board member for the purpose of redrafting and circulating a draft opinion and order in conformity with the procedures articulated in this subsection. A vacancy on the board shall not impair the right of a quorum to exercise all the rights and perform all the duties of the board. The Secretary of Labor and Industry, with the approval of the Governor, shall appoint a s...