PENNSYLVANIA LAWS AND RESEARCH

Section 301. (a) Every employer shall be liable for compensation for personal injury to, or for the death of each employee, by an injury in the course of his employment, and such compensation shall be paid in all cases by the employer, without regard to negligence, according to the schedule contained in sections three hundred and six and three hundred and seven of this article: Provided, That no compensation shall be paid when the injury or death is intentionally self inflicted, or is caused by the employee's violation of law, including, but not limited to, the illegal use of drugs, but the burden of proof of such fact shall be upon the employer, and no compensation shall be paid if, during hostile attacks on the United States, injury or death of employee results solely from military activities of the armed forces of the United States or from military activities or enemy sabotage of a foreign power. In cases where the injury or death is caused by intoxication, no compensation shall be paid if the injury or death would not have occurred but for the employee's intoxication, but the burden of proof of such fact shall be upon the employer. ((a) amended July 2, 1993, P.L.190, No.44)
(b) The right to receive compensation under this act shall not be affected by the fact that a minor is employed or is permitted to be employed in violation of the laws of this Commonwealth relating to the employment of minors, or that he obtained his employment by misrepresenting his age.
(c) (1) The terms "injury" and "personal injury," as used in this act, shall be construed to mean an injury to an employee, regardless of his previous physical condition, arising in the course of his employment and related thereto, and such disease or infection as naturally results from the injury or is aggravated, reactivated or accelerated by the injury; and wherever death is mentioned as a cause for compensation under this act, it shall mean only death resulting from such injury and its resultant effects, and occurring within three hundred weeks after the injury. The term "injury arising in the course of his employment," as used in this article, shall not include an injury caused by an act of a third person intended to injure the employee because of reasons personal to him, and not directed against him as an employee or because of his employment; nor shall it include injuries sustained while the employee is operating a motor vehicle provided by the employer if the employee is not otherwise in the course of employment at the time of injury; but shall include all other injuries sustained while the employee is actually engaged in the furtherance of the business or affairs of the employer, whether upon the employers premises or elsewhere, and shall include all injuries caused by the condition of the premises or by the operation of the employers business or affairs thereon, sustained by the employee, who, though not so engaged, is injured upon the premises occupied by or under the control of the employer, or upon which the employer's business or affairs are being carried on, the employee's presence thereon being required by the nature of his employment. ((1) amended July 2, 1993, P.L.190, No.44)
(2) The terms "injury," "personal injury," and "injury arising in the course of his employment," as used in this act, shall include, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, occupational disease as defined in section 108 of this act: Provided, That whenever occupational disease is the basis for compensation, for disability or death under this act, it shall apply only to disability or death resulting from such disease and occurring within three hundred weeks after the last date of employment in an occupation or industry to which he was exposed to hazards of such disease: And provided further, That if the employee's compassable disability has occurred within such period, his subsequent death as a result of the disease shall likewise be compassable. The provisions of this paragraph (2) shall apply only with respect to the disability or death of an employee which results in whole or in part from the employee's exposure to the hazard of occupational disease after June 30, 1973 in employment covered by The Pennsylvania Workmen's Compensation Act. The employer liable for compensation provided by section 305.1 or section 108, subsections (k), (l), (m), (a), (p) or (q), shall be the employer in whose employment the employee was last exposed for a period of not less than one year to the hazard of the occupational disease claimed. In the event the employee did not work in an exposure at least one year for any employer during the three hundred week period prior to disability or death, the employer liable for the compensation shall be that employer giving the longest period of employment in which the employee was exposed to the hazards of the disease claimed. ((2) amended Dec. 5, 1974, P.L.782, No.263)
(d) Compensation for silicosis, anthraco-silicosis, coal workers pneumoconiosis or asbestosis, shall be paid only when it is shown that the employee has had an aggregate employment of at least two years in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, during a period of ten years next preceding the date of disability, in an occupation having a silica, coal or asbestos hazard.
(d) added Oct. 17, 1972, P.L.930, No.223 and amended Dec. 6, 1972,
P.L.1627, No.337)  
(e) If it be shown that the employee, at or immediately before the date of disability, was employed in any occupation or industry in which the occupational disease is a hazard, it shall be presumed that the employee's occupational disease arose out of and in the course of his employment, but this presumption shall not be conclusive. ((e) added Oct. 17, 1972, P.L.930, No.223)  
Section 303. (a) The liability of an employer under this act shall be exclusive and in place of any and all other liability to such employee, his legal representative, husband or wife, parents, dependents, next of kin or anyone otherwise entitled to damages in any action at law or otherwise on account of any injury or death as defined in section 301 (c)(l) and (2) or occupational disease as defined in section 108.
(b) In the event injury or death to an employee is caused by a third party, then such employee, his legal representative, husband or wife, parents, dependents, next of kin, and anyone otherwise entitled to receive damages by reason thereof, may bring their action at law against such third party, but the employer, his insurance carrier, their servants and agents, employee, representatives acting on their behalf or at their request shall not be liable to a third party for damages, contribution, or indemnity in any action at law, or otherwise, unless liability for such damages, contributions or indemnity shall be expressly provided for in a written contract entered into by the party alleged to be liable prior to the date of the occurrence which gave rise to the action.
(303 amended Dec. 5, 1974, P.L.782, No.263)