Pawlosky v. WCAB (Latrobe Brewing Company)

In Pawlosky v. Workmen's Compensation Appeal Board (Latrobe Brewing Company), 514 Pa. 450, 525 A.2d 1204 (1987), a claimant sought benefits for a work-related aggravation of a pre-existing asthmatic condition. The supreme court rejected the employer's argument that, because the harm in question involves a disease, the exclusive route to compensation is through the occupational disease provisions of section 108. Rather, the court held that the work-related aggravation of the claimant's pre-existing asthma "is not precluded from being an 'injury' under [section 301(c)(1) of] the Act merely because that disease is not an 'occupational disease' [under section 108]." Id. at 461, 525 A.2d at 1210. In so holding, the court recognized a difference between an "occupational disease" as defined by section 108, which is compensable under section 301(c)(2), and a work-related injury, which, although disease-like, is outside the scope of section 108 and, thus, compensable pursuant to section 301(c)(1).