Claimant’s Receipt of Administrative Time While Out Due to COVID-19 is Not Payment in Lieu of Workers’ Compensation Benefits

In November 2020, the claimant, a police officer, was out of work for a physical injury. He returned to restricted-duty work on November 3, 2020, where he stayed in the office and did paperwork. The claimant alleged that the following day, November 4, 2020, he contracted COVID-19. He was then off from work from November 4, 2020, through April 1, 2022. The claimant did not file a Claim Petition for COVID-19.

While out of work, he received his full pay without depleting his sick or vacation time. The claimant was informed that his time off was considered “E-time” (ET) or “excused time.” The claimant’s ET pay ended on March 5, 2022. From March 5 through April 1, 2022, the claimant was paid his normal salary through his accrued vacation time.

The employer subsequently filed a Notice of Compensation Denial (NCD) for the COVID-19 exposure. In April 2022, the claimant filed Reinstatement and Penalty Petitions, alleging the employer accepted a work-related COVID-19 claim with payment of wages in lieu of benefits. He further alleged the employer was in violation of the Act by unilaterally terminating benefits in January 2022.

The judge dismissed the claimant’s petitions, finding the ET payroll designation did not constitute payment of wages in lieu of workers’ compensation. The judge further dismissed the claimant’s Penalty Petition, finding the employer showed that it never intended to use the ET pay as an agreement to pay workers’ compensation benefits, and that its later discontinuation of ET was never intended to be interpreted as a unilateral discontinuation of benefits.

The claimant appealed to the Appeal Board, which affirmed.

The Commonwealth Court affirmed on appeal, holding, too, that the intent of the payments controlled. The evidentiary record showed E-time was a timekeeping tool that enabled an employee to continue receiving their salary when they could not work, for whatever reason, and an employee not working because of reported COVID-19 would be recorded in the system as out on E-time, or administrative time, regardless of whether the exposure was work-related.