As you may be aware, due to changes in Federal regulations, Pennsylvania recently changed the Unemployment Compensation (UC) Chapter 61 regulations, effective February 12, 2011. The regulations now contain provisions which limit the use of unemployment compensation information in courts. The following information has been provided to the Workers' Compensation Office of Adjudication in regard to new procedures for obtaining Unemployment Compensation Benefit Offset information in light of these recent regulation changes.

Claimants

Federal disclosure laws do not permit UC to provide UC payment information for non-UC purposes to a claimant or claimant's counsel even with a Subpoena.  UC can provide it to a Workers' Compensation Judge because they are considered a "public entity" and the disclosure for a "public purpose," which are the restrictions that they are under when providing data for a non-UC purpose.  The WCJ must contact the Disclosure Officer and only payment records will be produced. 

Employers

Employers who are seeking information for workers' compensation benefit offsets may submit a request for a Monthly Notice of Compensation Charged, Department Form UC-640. The request should be submitted to the UC Disclosure Officer (contact information below). Employers may request the Monthly Notice for Compensation Charged by either fiscal year [July to June] or by calendar year. Payment for the requested documents must be made prior to the documents being provided. Costs are $32 per fiscal year request and $64 per calendar year request.

UC Contact Information