An injured worker receives workers' compensation benefits and also holds a group disability policy. How does coordination of benefits treat the workers' compensation payments under Pennsylvania's framework (77 P.S. § 511)?

Why D is correct

Pennsylvania's workers' compensation framework (77 P.S. § 511 et seq.) works alongside group disability coverage through coordination of benefits: the group disability policy takes the workers' compensation award into account when calculating its own payment, so the combined recovery is not duplicated for the same loss of income. The Pennsylvania Insurance Department's group coverage rules treat this coordination as the standard way group disability integrates with the workers' compensation system, which remains the primary remedy for work-related injury.

Why the other options are wrong

• A) Stacking full benefits on top of workers' compensation is exactly the double recovery coordination of benefits exists to prevent.
• B) Coverage under one program never zeroes out the other; workers' compensation remains payable for the work injury, and the group policy coordinates around it.
• C) Litigation between the insurer and the employer is not part of the coordination mechanism; the policy's coordination provision does the adjusting.

Memory hook

Workers' comp first, group disability coordinates — one injury, one recovery, no doubling.