Pennsylvania Employers should be aware of their obligations to maintain certain records to comply with the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act (“Act”) or face unnecessary legal exposure. For example, employers should have a robust policy in place to ensure that they are issuing and educating their employees about rights and obligations under Section 531 the Act. The Act also requires employers to retain signed employee acknowledgements that set forth their employees understand their rights and obligations under Section 531 of the Act. Failure to retain these acknowledgements exempts the employee from certain notice requirements and makes the employer liable for all related treatment.

Further, employers should be diligent about their workers’ compensation recordkeeping, given the long window of time that certain workers’ compensation claim may brought. This is especially true if the employees were exposed to materials that may have caused them to contract occupational diseases. Workers’ compensation documents may also be useful if an employer find itself in a lawsuit related to workers’ compensation or other employment matters.

Of course, if an employer anticipates litigation and workers’ compensation records are relevant evidence, an attorney should be retained, and such documents should be subjected to a legal hold process. Thus, when crafting policies to guide an organization’s information governance efforts, such as document retention and legal hold policies, employers should consider the manner that information assets are used by various stakeholders in the business as well as applicable recordkeeping laws and regulations. This allows organizations to utilize the records in a manner that maximizes their usefulness to an organization while minimizing costs and legal risk.

If your organization is seeking support with information governance, our team has solutions to assist clients in their efforts to maximize the usefulness of information assets while minimizing the cost and risk associated with their use. At CODISCOVR, we deliver client-focused, defensible, and solutions that are tailored to each organization’s specific needs. Reach out to Nicholas Berenato, Information Governance Principal, CODISCOVR. Nick is an attorney that collaborates with clients to address legal and financial exposure from their information assets through information governance. He develops strategies and policies to enable clients to effectively manage their data in a manner that minimizes costs and allow clients to leverage their data to support their business processes.