The Pennsylvania Supreme Court reconciled competing interpretations of the Workers’ Compensation Act as it relates to the timeliness of claims for firefighters suffering from certain work-related cancers. Section 301(c)(2) of the Act provides that a compensable injury includes death or disability caused by occupational diseases. That same section requires that when a claim is based on occupational disease, the disability or death must occur within 300 weeks of the last date of employment in which the claimant was exposed to the disease-causing conditions. But section 108(r) allows certain firefighter-cancer claims to be filed within 600 weeks after the last date of employment. Here, the Court rejected an argument that cancer must manifest within 300 weeks of the last date of employment and interpreted the Act to allow for claims where cancer manifested up to 600 weeks post-employment.
