Section 301. (a) Every employer shall be liable for compensation for personal injury to, or for the death of each employe, by an injury in the course of his employment, and such compensation shall be paid in all cases by the employer, without regard to negligence, according to the schedule contained in sections three hundred and six and three hundred and seven of this article: Provided, That no compensation shall be paid when the injury or death is intentionally self inflicted, or is caused by the employe's violation of law, including, but not limited to, the illegal use of drugs, but the burden of proof of such fact shall be upon the employer, and no compensation shall be paid if, during hostile attacks on the United States, injury or death of employes results solely from military activities of the armed forces of the United States or from military activities or enemy sabotage of a foreign power. In cases where the injury or death is caused by intoxication, no compensation shall be paid if the injury or death would not have occurred but for the employe's intoxication, but the burden of proof of such fact shall be upon the employer. ((a) amended July 2, 1993, P.L.190, No.44)
(b) The right to receive compensation under this act shall not be affected by the fact that a minor is employed or is permitted to be employed in violation of the laws of this Commonwealth relating to the employment of minors, or that he obtained his employment by misrepresenting his age.
(c) (1) The terms "injury" and "personal injury," as used in this act, shall be construed to mean an injury to an employe, regardless of his previous physical condition, except as provided under subsection (f), arising in the course of his employment and related thereto, and such disease or infection as naturally results from the injury or is aggravated, reactivated or accelerated by the injury; and wherever death is mentioned as a cause for compensation under this act, it shall mean only death resulting from such injury and its resultant effects, and occurring within three hundred weeks after the injury. The term "injury arising in the course of his employment," as used in this article, shall not include an injury caused by an act of a third person intended to injure the employe because of reasons personal to him, and not directed against him as an employe or because of his employment; nor shall it include injuries sustained while the employe is operating a motor vehicle provided by the employer if the employe is not otherwise in the course of employment at the time of injury; but shall include all other injuries sustained while the employe is actually engaged in the furtherance of the business or affairs of the employer, whether upon the employer's premises or elsewhere, and shall include all injuries caused by the condition of the premises or by the operation of the employer's business or affairs thereon, sustained by the employe, who, though not so engaged, is injured upon the premises occupied by or under the control of the employer, or upon which the employer's business or affairs are being carried on, the employe's presence thereon being required by the nature of his employment.
(2) The terms "injury," "personal injury," and "injury arising in the course of his employment," as used in this act, shall include, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, occupational disease as defined in section 108 of this act: Provided, That whenever occupational disease is the basis for compensation, for disability or death under this act, it shall apply only to disability or death resulting from such disease and occurring within three hundred weeks after the last date of employment in an occupation or industry to which he was exposed to hazards of such disease: And provided further, That if the employe's compensable disability has occurred within such period, his subsequent death as a result of the disease shall likewise be compensable. The provisions of this paragraph (2) shall apply only with respect to the disability or death of an employe which results in whole or in part from the employe's exposure to the hazard of occupational disease after June 30, 1973 in employment covered by The Pennsylvania Workmen's Compensation Act. The employer liable for compensation provided by section 305.1 or section 108, subsections (k), (l), (m), (o), (p), (q) or (r), shall be the employer in whose employment the employe was last exposed for a period of not less than one year to the hazard of the occupational disease claimed. In the event the employe did not work in an exposure at least one year for any employer during the three hundred week period prior to disability or death, the employer liable for the compensation shall be that employer giving the longest period of employment in which the employe was exposed to the hazards of the disease claimed.
((c) amended July 7, 2011, P.L.251, No.46)
(d) Compensation for silicosis, anthraco-silicosis, coal worker's pneumoconiosis or asbestosis, shall be paid only when it is shown that the employe has had an aggregate employment of at least two years in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, during a period of ten years next preceding the date of disability, in an occupation having a silica, coal or asbestos hazard. ((d) added Oct. 17, 1972, P.L.930, No.223 and amended Dec. 6, 1972, P.L.1627, No.337)
(e) If it be shown that the employe, at or immediately before the date of disability, was employed in any occupation or industry in which the occupational disease is a hazard, it shall be presumed that the employe's occupational disease arose out of and in the course of his employment, but this presumption shall not be conclusive. ((e) added Oct. 17, 1972, P.L.930, No.223)
(f) Compensation pursuant to cancer suffered by a firefighter shall only be to those firefighters who have served four or more years in continuous firefighting duties, who can establish direct exposure to a carcinogen referred to in section 108(r) relating to cancer by a firefighter and have successfully passed a physical examination prior to asserting a claim under this subsection or prior to engaging in firefighting duties and the examination failed to reveal any evidence of the condition of cancer. The presumption of this subsection may be rebutted by substantial competent evidence that shows that the firefighter's cancer was not caused by the occupation of firefighting. Any claim made by a member of a volunteer fire company shall be based on evidence of direct exposure to a carcinogen referred to in section 108(r) as documented by reports filed pursuant to the Pennsylvania Fire Information Reporting System and provided that the member's claim is based on direct exposure to a carcinogen referred to in section 108(r). Notwithstanding the limitation under subsection (c)(2) with respect to disability or death resulting from an occupational disease having to occur within three hundred weeks after the last date of employment in an occupation or industry to which a claimant was exposed to the hazards of disease, claims filed pursuant to cancer suffered by the firefighter under section 108(r) may be made within six hundred weeks after the last date of employment in an occupation or industry to which a claimant was exposed to the hazards of disease. The presumption provided for under this subsection shall only apply to claims made within the first three hundred weeks. ((f) added July 7, 2011, P.L.251, No.46)
(g) (1) A claim for a post-traumatic stress injury suffered by a first responder shall establish that the injury was the result of the individual undergoing a qualifying traumatic event and was sustained in the course and scope of the individual's employment as a first responder. A post-traumatic stress injury suffered by a first responder shall not be required to be the result of an abnormal working condition to be a compensable injury under this act.
(2) Workers' compensation benefits for a post-traumatic stress injury suffered by an individual under paragraph (1) shall be available during the period of the post-traumatic stress injury, but not for a period of more than one hundred four weeks.
(3) A post-traumatic stress injury suffered by an individual under paragraph (1) shall be based on assessment and diagnosis by a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist under the laws and regulations of this Commonwealth.
(4) A claim for a post-traumatic stress injury must be filed no later than three years after the date of a diagnosis under paragraph (3) and the injury shall not have occurred more than five years before the effective date of this paragraph.
(5) When a post-traumatic stress injury is diagnosed after the last date of employment, paragraph (1) shall not be construed to prohibit a claim against the employer of the claimant at the time of the exposure to the qualifying traumatic event which caused the injury.
(6) For purposes of this subsection, a post-traumatic stress injury suffered as a result of a disciplinary action, job or performance evaluation, job transfers or employment termination shall not be compensable.
(7) All terms and conditions specified under this act and not specifically addressed under this subsection shall remain in full force and effect and shall apply to benefits provided under this subsection.
((g) added Oct. 29, 2024, P.L.1079, No.121)
Compiler's Note: Section 3 of Act 121 of 2024 provided that the amendment or addition of sections 109 and 301(g) shall apply to claims filed on or after the effective date of section 3.
Compiler's Note: See section 3 of Act 46 of 2011 in the appendix to this act for special provisions relating to submission of data on amount of successful claims. Section 4 of Act 46, which added clause (r), provided that the provisions of Act 46 shall apply to all claims filed on or after the effective date of section 4.