BARBIERI, Senior Judge.
Robert Cahill (Claimant) seeks review of the decision and order of the Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board [445]*445(Board) which reversed the referee’s reinstatement of total disability benefits to Claimant pursuant to The Pennsylvania Workmen’s Compensation Act (Act), Act of June 2, 1915, P.L. 736, as amended, 77 P.S. §§ 1-1031.
Two issues are presented for our consideration: (1) whether the referee properly reinstated total disability benefits, despite Claimant’s failure to establish an increase in his work-related disability, where the referee found that the supplemental agreement reducing Claimant’s entitlement from total to partial was incorrect in a material respect and (2) whether the referee properly reinstated benefits for total disability after the full 500 weeks of partial disability entitlement was paid to Claimant.1
Our scope of review is, of course, limited to determining whether or not the necessary findings of fact were supported by substantial evidence, an error of law was committed or constitutional rights were violated. Russell v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board (Volkswagen of America), 121 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 436, 550 A.2d 1364 (1988). Having reviewed the record as well as relevant case law and statutory authority, we find that the Board erred in reversing the referee’s award.
Relevant to our disposition are the following findings of fact made by the referee:
1. The claimant, Robert Cahill, filed a Petition for Modification of Compensation on February 19, 1987. In his petition, the claimant alleged that disability caused by his injury which occurred on September 15, 1972 changed from partial to total disability as of December 16, 1986.
3. The defendant [North American Coal Corporation (Employer) ] and the claimant executed an Agreement for Compensation in which the claimant’s injury is described [446]*446as a fractured pelvis and internal injuries, and the weekly disability rate provided is $94.00 based upon an average weekly wage of $235.50.
4. The defendant and the claimant executed a Supplemental Agreement dated December 28, 1979 wherein they agreed that the claimant returned to work on March 5, 1977 at reduced earning power and agreed that the claimant is entitled to compensation for 500 weeks on and after March 5, 1977 for partial disability at a rate of $79.67 per week.2
5. The defendant paid compensation to the claimant for 500 weeks for his partial disability beginning March 5, 1977. This time period ended on October 5, 1986.
7. The claimant submitted a deposition of George H. Wheeling, M.D. Dr. Wheeling is a Board certified orthopedic surgeon. He first examined the claimant for his work related injury in August, 1978. His last examination of the claimant was on December 17, 1986. Dr. Wheeling testified that the claimant was unable to return to his coal mine work in 1978 because of his work related injury and he remains so disabled to the present time. He testified that although there has been some modest improvement in the claimant’s condition, he has not im[447]*447proved to a point where he is employable.3
8. During cross examination, Dr. Wheeling agreed that the claimant could do light semi-sedentary work which allowed him to change his position as needed and that he remains able to perform such work at the present time.
10. The claimant remains partially disabled. There has not been any change in the degree of that partial disability since March 5, 1977.
11. The claimant did not return to work on March 5, 1977, nor has he been employed at any time since that date. In making this finding [sic] of Fact, I have accepted the pertinent testimony of the claimant as creditable [sic].
12. Other than the statement, contrary to fact, in the Supplemental Agreement that the claimant returned to work on March 5, 1977, there has never been an agreement that work is available to the claimant which he is able to perform within the limitations imposed upon him by his injury.
18. The defendant has never shown that work is available to the claimant which he is able to perform within the limitations imposed upon him by his injury.
[448]*44814. I have considered the claimant’s petition to be one for reinstatement of compensation for total disability.4
Findings of Fact Nos. 1, 3-5, 7-8, 10-14 (footnotes added).5 Based thereon, the referee concluded that:
2. Pursuant to Sections 3156 and 413(a) [sic]7 of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, a Petition for Reinstatement of Compensation may be filed at anytime [sic] during the three year period immediately following the last payment of disability compensation. Since the claimant filed his petition within that time period it is properly and timely filed.
3. Because of the fundamental mis-statement in the Supplemental Agreement dated December 28, 1979, that the claimant returned to work on March 5, 1977, the claimant does not have to show a worsening in his compensable disability. Because of this mis-statement, the defendant has the burden of showing that work is available to the claimant which he is able to perform within the limitations imposed upon him by this work related injury. The defendant did not meet this burden.
4. The claimant is entitled to compensation for total disability beginning with the expiration of his partial disability compensation after October 5, 1986 and continuing as provided by the Workmen’s Compensation Act for total disability.8
[449]*449Conclusions of Law Nos. 2-4 (footnotes added). The Board, in reversing the referee’s award, stated that Claimant failed to sustain his burden of establishing an increase in, or recurrence of, his disability subsequent to the date of the supplemental agreement so as to justify reinstatement of benefits.
Preliminarily, we note that this case is actually premised upon a petition to review and set aside a supplemental agreement on the basis that it is a false and illegal agreement. The referee found, which finding is supported by substantial evidence, that Claimant never returned to work as stated in the supplemental agreement.
Although the referee treated Claimant’s petition as one for reinstatement, presumably under the second paragraph of Section 413 of the Act, 77 P.S. § 772, it is instead a petition seeking to review and set aside the supplemental agreement, first paragraph of Section 413 of the Act, 77 P.S. § 771,9 on the basis of illegality under Section 407 of the Act, 77 P.S. § 731,10 which states in relevant part that:
the employer ... and employe ... may agree upon the compensation payable to the employe ... under this act; but any agreement ...
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BARBIERI, Senior Judge.
Robert Cahill (Claimant) seeks review of the decision and order of the Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board [445]*445(Board) which reversed the referee’s reinstatement of total disability benefits to Claimant pursuant to The Pennsylvania Workmen’s Compensation Act (Act), Act of June 2, 1915, P.L. 736, as amended, 77 P.S. §§ 1-1031.
Two issues are presented for our consideration: (1) whether the referee properly reinstated total disability benefits, despite Claimant’s failure to establish an increase in his work-related disability, where the referee found that the supplemental agreement reducing Claimant’s entitlement from total to partial was incorrect in a material respect and (2) whether the referee properly reinstated benefits for total disability after the full 500 weeks of partial disability entitlement was paid to Claimant.1
Our scope of review is, of course, limited to determining whether or not the necessary findings of fact were supported by substantial evidence, an error of law was committed or constitutional rights were violated. Russell v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board (Volkswagen of America), 121 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 436, 550 A.2d 1364 (1988). Having reviewed the record as well as relevant case law and statutory authority, we find that the Board erred in reversing the referee’s award.
Relevant to our disposition are the following findings of fact made by the referee:
1. The claimant, Robert Cahill, filed a Petition for Modification of Compensation on February 19, 1987. In his petition, the claimant alleged that disability caused by his injury which occurred on September 15, 1972 changed from partial to total disability as of December 16, 1986.
3. The defendant [North American Coal Corporation (Employer) ] and the claimant executed an Agreement for Compensation in which the claimant’s injury is described [446]*446as a fractured pelvis and internal injuries, and the weekly disability rate provided is $94.00 based upon an average weekly wage of $235.50.
4. The defendant and the claimant executed a Supplemental Agreement dated December 28, 1979 wherein they agreed that the claimant returned to work on March 5, 1977 at reduced earning power and agreed that the claimant is entitled to compensation for 500 weeks on and after March 5, 1977 for partial disability at a rate of $79.67 per week.2
5. The defendant paid compensation to the claimant for 500 weeks for his partial disability beginning March 5, 1977. This time period ended on October 5, 1986.
7. The claimant submitted a deposition of George H. Wheeling, M.D. Dr. Wheeling is a Board certified orthopedic surgeon. He first examined the claimant for his work related injury in August, 1978. His last examination of the claimant was on December 17, 1986. Dr. Wheeling testified that the claimant was unable to return to his coal mine work in 1978 because of his work related injury and he remains so disabled to the present time. He testified that although there has been some modest improvement in the claimant’s condition, he has not im[447]*447proved to a point where he is employable.3
8. During cross examination, Dr. Wheeling agreed that the claimant could do light semi-sedentary work which allowed him to change his position as needed and that he remains able to perform such work at the present time.
10. The claimant remains partially disabled. There has not been any change in the degree of that partial disability since March 5, 1977.
11. The claimant did not return to work on March 5, 1977, nor has he been employed at any time since that date. In making this finding [sic] of Fact, I have accepted the pertinent testimony of the claimant as creditable [sic].
12. Other than the statement, contrary to fact, in the Supplemental Agreement that the claimant returned to work on March 5, 1977, there has never been an agreement that work is available to the claimant which he is able to perform within the limitations imposed upon him by his injury.
18. The defendant has never shown that work is available to the claimant which he is able to perform within the limitations imposed upon him by his injury.
[448]*44814. I have considered the claimant’s petition to be one for reinstatement of compensation for total disability.4
Findings of Fact Nos. 1, 3-5, 7-8, 10-14 (footnotes added).5 Based thereon, the referee concluded that:
2. Pursuant to Sections 3156 and 413(a) [sic]7 of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, a Petition for Reinstatement of Compensation may be filed at anytime [sic] during the three year period immediately following the last payment of disability compensation. Since the claimant filed his petition within that time period it is properly and timely filed.
3. Because of the fundamental mis-statement in the Supplemental Agreement dated December 28, 1979, that the claimant returned to work on March 5, 1977, the claimant does not have to show a worsening in his compensable disability. Because of this mis-statement, the defendant has the burden of showing that work is available to the claimant which he is able to perform within the limitations imposed upon him by this work related injury. The defendant did not meet this burden.
4. The claimant is entitled to compensation for total disability beginning with the expiration of his partial disability compensation after October 5, 1986 and continuing as provided by the Workmen’s Compensation Act for total disability.8
[449]*449Conclusions of Law Nos. 2-4 (footnotes added). The Board, in reversing the referee’s award, stated that Claimant failed to sustain his burden of establishing an increase in, or recurrence of, his disability subsequent to the date of the supplemental agreement so as to justify reinstatement of benefits.
Preliminarily, we note that this case is actually premised upon a petition to review and set aside a supplemental agreement on the basis that it is a false and illegal agreement. The referee found, which finding is supported by substantial evidence, that Claimant never returned to work as stated in the supplemental agreement.
Although the referee treated Claimant’s petition as one for reinstatement, presumably under the second paragraph of Section 413 of the Act, 77 P.S. § 772, it is instead a petition seeking to review and set aside the supplemental agreement, first paragraph of Section 413 of the Act, 77 P.S. § 771,9 on the basis of illegality under Section 407 of the Act, 77 P.S. § 731,10 which states in relevant part that:
the employer ... and employe ... may agree upon the compensation payable to the employe ... under this act; but any agreement ... varying the amount to be paid or the period during which compensation shall be payable as provided in this act, shall be wholly null and void____
[450]*450Here, we are presented with a clear case of a supplemental agreement falsely providing for a reduction of total disability, thus “varying the amount to be paid” and the period during which compensation would be payable.
Employer, although conceding that Claimant never returned to work on and after March 5, 1977,11 nonetheless contends that the statement in the supplemental agreement that Claimant returned to work serves as a binding stipulation on the parties to the agreement, both of whom acted on the advice of counsel, and, as such, is likewise binding on the workmen’s compensation authorities.
Having reviewed the record, we find no evidence that Claimant acted pursuant to advice of counsel. In any event, advice of counsel cannot immunize a false stipulation, upon which a compensation agreement is premised, from the consequences set forth in Section 407 of the Act, 77 P.S. § 731. See Reilly v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board (General Electric Co.), 98 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 488, 512 A.2d 749 (1986), petitions for allowance of appeal denied, 514 Pa. 650, 651, 524 A.2d 496 (1987); see also Spears v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board (Newman and Co.), 85 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 346, 481 A.2d 1244 (1984). A compensation agreement founded upon false facts, and thus contrary to what the facts would call for under the Act, is null and void. Reilly; Spears.
In short, while it is true that parties may stipulate to the extent of a claimant’s loss of earning power at a given time, if such stipulation is false and adversely affects substantial rights to which a claimant is entitled under the Act, thereby rendering the compensation agreement illegal and thus null and void under Section 407 of the Act, 77 P.S. § 731, the stipulation cannot be accorded the binding effect sought by Employer here.12
[451]*451Employer likewise contends that Section 413 of the Act, 77 P.S. §§ 771, 772, relates only to existing agreements and cannot be applied here because the supplemental agreement expired once Claimant received partial disability compensation for the full statutory period of 500 weeks. We disagree.
Employer’s argument fails to consider the consequences of Section 407 of the Act, 77 P.S. § 731. Once Section 407 is successfully invoked, as here, the compensation agreement “is wholly null and void and unenforceable as to all provisions of the agreement and as to all parties.” Lease-way Systems, Inc. v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board, 53 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 520, 526, 418 A.2d 796, 799 (1980) (emphasis in original and emphasis added), cited with approval in Rollins Outdoor Advertising v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board, 506 Pa. 592, 487 A.2d 794 (1985). This would, of course, include the 500-week period raised by Employer and, accordingly, expiration thereof is irrelevant and cannot be a limitation here. We now hold that petitions to review and set aside compensation agreements, Section 413 of the Act, 77 P.S. § 771, on the basis of illegality under Section 407 of the Act, 77 P.S. § 731, are properly acted upon if filed, as here, within three years of the last payment thereunder. Section 413 of the Act, 77 P.S. § 772.
In any event, for all practical intents and purposes, we have an existing agreement here by operation of law, that being the original agreement for compensation. Because the supplemental agreement in question is contrary to [452]*452the Act and, as such, null and void as to all of its provisions, the parties must be returned to the status quo existing prior to the improper reduction in benefits. Leaseway Systems, Inc. Accordingly, Claimant must be returned to the status of total disability since Employer has offered no evidence other than the null and void supplemental agreement to establish entitlement to a reduction of Claimant’s benefits from total to partial. Kachinski v. Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board (Vepco Construction Co.), 516 Pa. 240, 532 A.2d 374 (1987); Leaseway Systems, Inc.
Quite clearly, Employer is now, and has been since the effective date of the supplemental agreement, obligated under the Act to provide compensation to Claimant for total disability, which payments, of course, continue indefinitely unless and until Employer properly establishes entitlement to a reduction or cessation thereof. In relying exclusively upon the false stipulation in the supplemental agreement, the falsity of which Employer concedes, Employer failed to show that suitable work was actually available to Claimant from March 5, 1977 to the present, which burden, as previously noted, had to be sustained prior to properly effecting a reduction in Claimant’s benefits. Kachinski.
It goes without saying that this burden cannot be sustained by submission of a false stipulation in a supplemental agreement which is clearly contrary to the Act. To conclude otherwise would allow an employer, such as Employer here, to effectuate a reduction in its obligation to an injured employe without having properly established entitlement thereto as required under the Act. Such circumvention of the Act cannot be condoned without sterilizing the provisions thereof, which we decline to do.
Accordingly, under the circumstances presented here, the referee was correct in concluding that it was not necessary for Claimant to establish an increase in his work-related disability. Because the supplemental agreement is illegal under Section 407 of the Act, 77 P.S. § 731, it is wholly null and void and the parties must be returned to the status they occupied prior to entering into this agreement which im[453]*453properly reduced Claimant’s benefits from total to partial. Claimant must therefore be regarded as totally disabled and Employer, in order to alter its liability for payment of compensation for total disability, must establish either that Claimant’s work-related disability has ceased or been reduced and, if reduced, that suitable work is actually available to Claimant.
Likewise, the referee was not precluded from acting on Claimant’s petition because filed after the “expiration” of the null and void supplemental agreement. The limitation contained therein, which caused the agreement to “expire” after 500 weeks, is also null and void, with the parties being returned to the status, noted above, and the original agreement for total disability compensation reactivated by operation of law. Claimant’s true status of total disability, of course, has no time limitation.
However, the referee erred in directing “compensation for total disability beginning with the expiration of [Claimant’s] partial disability compensation after October 5, 1986.” Conclusion of Law No. 4; see also Order. Compensation for total disability should instead commence as of March 5, 1977, the date Claimant’s benefits were improperly reduced from total to partial, with credit given to Employer for any and all partial disability payments made on and after March 5, 1977.
For the foregoing reasons, we will reverse the order of the Board, thereby reinstating the referee’s decision, as modified, and direct that Claimant be paid compensation for total disability commencing March 5, 1977, with credit given to Employer for any and all partial disability payments made on and after March 5, 1977; with interest on due and unpaid portions of weekly benefits according to law.
ORDER
AND NOW, this 31st day of January, 1991, the decision and order of the Workmen’s Compensation Appeal Board, at No. A-94770, dated March 12, 1990, is hereby reversed.
[454]*454The referee’s decision, dated November 2, 1987, is reinstated, as modified by the foregoing opinion, and North American Coal Corporation is directed to pay Robert Cahill compensation for total disability commencing March 5, 1977, with credit for any and all payments of partial disability made on and after March 5, 1977; with interest on each unpaid weekly amount from the respective due dates thereof.