In Cty. of Allegheny v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Butkus), the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court reviewed an order of the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board, which granted Butkus’s Petition to Modify Compensation Benefits (Modification Petition) in which he sought to change his partial disability status to total disability. The Court first held that the legislature intended to give retroactive effect only to those sections of Act 111 that were given express retroactive effect. Thus, Butkus’s Modification Petition was timely. The Court next held that the employer was not permitted to rebut Butkus’s impairment rating under Section 306(a.3) of the Workers’ Compensation Act by offering evidence of his earning power. Finally, because Butkus filed his Modification Petition within the statutory time limit, applying the holding of Protz v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (Derry Area School District), 161 A.3d 827 (Pa. 2017) (Protz II) was not impermissibly retroactive.
