Help

BI’s Article search uses Boolean search capabilities. If you are not familiar with these principles, here are some quick tips.

To search specifically for more than one word, put the search term in quotation marks. For example, “workers compensation”. This will limit your search to that combination of words.

To search for a combination of terms, use quotations and the & symbol. For example, “hurricane” & “loss”.

Login Register Subscribe

Armed robbery isn't 'normal working condition' for Pennsylvania liquor store manager: Court

Reprints

In accordance with the state Supreme Court's remand order, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled Tuesday that a former liquor store manager who developed post-traumatic stress disorder after being held at gunpoint should receive workers compensation benefits.

Gregory Kochanowicz worked as the general manager of a liquor store in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, owned by the state's Liquor Control Board, when he was robbed at gunpoint in April 2008, according to court records.

Mr. Kochanowicz testified that, in his more than 30 years working for the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, this was the first time he experienced “a masked gunman entering his store, sticking a gun to the back of his head, and tying him up with duct tape,” records show.

Following the incident, he began treatment with a psychologist, who opined that Mr. Kochanowicz suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and adjustment disorder as a result of the April 2008 armed robbery, and that he couldn't return to his store manager position, according to records.

A workers compensation judge and the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board awarded workers comp benefits to Mr. Kochanowicz since “robbery by gunpoint to the back of the head is neither a normal societal occurrence, nor a normal working condition,” records show.

However, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board appealed, arguing that the April 2008 armed robbery wasn't “an abnormal working condition” because workers were provided with workplace violence training and multiple pamphlets on robberies and theft, records show.

As a result, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled in September 2011 that Mr. Kochanowicz was not entitled to benefits, noting that there were nearly 100 robberies in the area since 2002, according to records.

Mr. Kochanowicz appealed to the state Supreme Court, which vacated the Commonwealth Court's order in February 2014 and remanded the case, records show.

On Tuesday, the Commonwealth Court ruled that Mr. Kochanowicz did suffer a compensable mental injury and that he is entitled to workers comp benefits.

The ruling states that the workers compensation judge's findings are fact and “supported by substantial evidence.”