Jeff Sidebottom is the former chair the Workers’ Compensation Law Group and focuses his practice on advising clients regarding workers’ compensation issues and representing clients in related litigation. When providing counsel on workers’ compensation matters, he works closely with other members of the firm’s Employment Law Group to provide coordinated full-service risk management advice for the benefit of the firm’s clients.

Jeff has handled workers’ compensation cases throughout Pennsylvania for clients, including self-insured employers, insurance carriers and third-party administrators, as well as businesses such as hospitals, food processing companies, manufacturers and printing companies. Jeff has aggressively defended cases for businesses he represents to its final conclusion. When defending employers or businesses in workers’ compensation matters, Jeff believes it is absolutely essential to take a team approach in working and communicating on a regular basis with the insurer, third party administrator and representatives of the employer.

On many occasions, a workers’ compensation claimant has other employment-related issues with the client so Jeff takes a team-oriented approach with other members of the Employment Law Group to provide a coordinated approach while dealing with problem employees which can include FLMA, ADA, or termination issues. This coordinated advice approach is very helpful to clients when dealing with difficult or problem employees.

During his 45 years representing employers in the workers’ compensation field, Jeff has become very aware of the interests of businesses to reduce workers’ compensation costs, including litigation expenses. He has become an advocate for the interests of businesses dealing with the workers’ compensation system, both at the state and local levels. To this end, Jeff serves as a member of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce’s Workers’ Compensation Executive Committee, which provides advice to the Chamber on possible legislative initiatives affecting the workers’ compensation system. Jeff has also been involved with the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce Workers’ Compensation Work Group which meets on a regular basis to address common issues of employers in Lancaster County dealing with workers’ compensation matters.

In addition, Jeff has served on the editing committee for the Pennsylvania Chamber’s Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Guide, a useful and informative book for businesses on how to deal with the workers’ compensation system in the state. Jeff authored an article that has been very useful for employers by providing a guide for understanding and dealing with the workers’ compensation litigation process and providing tips on how to increase the likelihood of a successful litigation outcome.