Gillyard v. WCAB (Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board)

In Gillyard v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board (Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board), 865 A.2d 991 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2005), the employer's physician testified that the claimant had only a back strain and sprain, and not chronic sciatica at the L5-S1 distribution as was adjudicated in the first termination petition proceeding. 865 A.2d at 996. The Court found that the physician's testimony that the claimant had made a full recovery from the back strain and sprain could not support a decision that the claimant had fully recovered from his adjudicated injury. Id. The employer's doctor believed that the work injury was only a lumbar strain/sprain when in reality the work injury also included chronic sciatica with disc bulging. The employer's doctor specifically testified that he was not opining that the claimant was recovered from anything other than the lumbar strain/sprain. In both cases, the testimony of the employers' medical experts was deemed insufficient to support a termination because the testimony did not address the work-related injury.