On December 13, 1990, a 19-year old woman gave birth to Ashley Lauren Rossa. On February 6, 1991, Daniel Boyle, a 21-year old Philadelphia police officer, died as a result of a gunshot wound to the head sustained in the course and scope of employment.
A workers’ compensation claim was filed on behalf of Rossa, alleging that she was Boyle’s daughter and was eligible for fatal claims benefits. When the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board reversed a grant of benefits to Rossa on the grounds that “issues of paternity are beyond our scope,” the matter was eventually referred to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
The Court found that the Board had the ability to determine paternity questions. The Court reasoned that the law vested with the Board the responsibility of determining to whom workers’ compensation must be paid by an employer.
When the employee dies as a result of a compensable injury, the Court found that the Board “must decide from the evidence presented whether there is a surviving spouse and whether there are children and, if so, how many. Given the familial relationships that the Board must often disentangle, determining the eligibility of the child is not an extraordinary task. It is a responsibility that the Board is well able to accept.”
Rossa v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board, 2003 WL 23095488 (Pa. 2003).