Employer's Request to Compel a Vocational Interview

In Linton v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (Amcast Industrial Corporation), 895 A.2d 677 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2006), a Workers' Compensation Judge (WCJ) granted the employer's petition to compel a vocational interview of the claimant three years after the claimant's last vocational assessment. On appeal, the Court observed that Form LIBC-499 (Petition for Physical Examination or Expert Interview of Employee (Section 314)) does not require an employer to provide any reason for the request. Form LIBC-499 provides space for an employer to set forth only the following information: (1) the date on which it requested the employee to submit to a physical examination or vocational interview; (2) the date of the last physical examination or expert interview of the employee; (3) a date by which the employer seeks to have the employee submit to the physical examination or expert interview. Noting that a vocational interview may be the only mechanism by which an employer can determine the existence and/or extent of a change in a claimant's vocational status, we concluded that it would not be reasonable to require an employer to allege such a change in order to request a subsequent interview. Finally, the Court held in Linton that the mere passage of time did constitute grounds to compel a claimant to submit to a subsequent vocational interview pursuant to section 314(a) of the Act.