Bill Text: NY A06208 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Provides that either party to a workers compensation claim can request a hearing; requires a stenographic record of all hearings held.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)

Status: (Vetoed) 2023-12-08 - tabled [A06208 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A06208-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          6208

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      April 3, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. JOYNER -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Labor

        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  workers'  compensation  law, in relation to the
          parties' rights to a hearing upon application to the workers'  compen-
          sation board and requiring a stenographic record of all hearings held

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Subdivisions 1, 2 and 3  of  section  20  of  the  workers'
     2  compensation law are renumbered subdivisions 2, 3 and 4 and a new subdi-
     3  vision 1 is added to read as follows:
     4    1. The board shall index a claim for workers' compensation immediately
     5  upon the receipt of a medical report in addition to either a claim filed
     6  by the injured worker or an employer's report of injury or illness.
     7    §  2.   Subdivision  2 of section 20 of the workers' compensation law,
     8  as added by chapter 635 of the laws of 1996 and as renumbered by section
     9  one of this act, is amended to read as follows:
    10    2. [At any time after the expiration of the first seven days of  disa-
    11  bility  on  the  part  of  an injured employee, or at any time after the
    12  employee's death, a claim for  compensation  may  be  presented  to  the
    13  employer  or  to  the  chair.  The]  Within sixty days after a claim for
    14  compensation has been indexed, the board shall hold an  initial  hearing
    15  for  each claim and shall have full power and authority to determine all
    16  questions in relation to the payment  of  claims  presented  to  it  for
    17  compensation  under  the  provisions of this chapter. The chair or board
    18  shall thereafter make or cause to be made such investigation as it deems
    19  necessary, and upon application of either party or an  attorney  repres-
    20  enting  either  party,  shall  order  a hearing before a referee to take
    21  place within forty-five calendar days of  the  application  from  either
    22  party,  and within thirty days after a claim for compensation is submit-
    23  ted under this section, or such hearing closed, shall make  or  deny  an
    24  award, determining such claim for compensation, and file the same in the

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD09993-01-3
        A. 6208                             2

     1  office of the chair.  No application for a hearing made by a party or an
     2  attorney  pursuant  to  this  section  shall  be subject to limitations,
     3  prerequisites, or penalties imposed by the board. Immediately after such
     4  filing the chair shall send to the parties a copy of the decision.  Upon
     5  a hearing pursuant to this section either party may present evidence and
     6  be  represented by counsel.  The decision of the board shall be final as
     7  to all questions of fact, and, except as  provided  in  section  twenty-
     8  three  of  this article, as to all questions of law.  Except as provided
     9  in section twenty-seven of this article, all awards of the  board  shall
    10  draw  simple  interest  from thirty days after the making thereof at the
    11  rate provided in section five thousand four of the  civil  practice  law
    12  and  rules.  Whenever a hearing or proceeding for the determination of a
    13  claim for compensation is  begun  before  a  referee,  pursuant  to  the
    14  provisions  of this chapter, such hearing or proceeding or any adjourned
    15  hearing thereon shall continue before the same  referee  until  a  final
    16  determination  awarding  or denying compensation, except in the absence,
    17  inability or disqualification to act of such referee, or for other  good
    18  cause, in which event such hearing or proceeding may be continued before
    19  another referee by order of the chair or board.
    20    §  3.  Paragraph  (c)  of  subdivision 3 of section 25 of the workers'
    21  compensation law, as amended by chapter 61  of  the  laws  of  1986,  is
    22  amended to read as follows:
    23    (c)  The  board  shall  keep an accurate stenographic record and tran-
    24  script recorded by a verbatim reporter in the employ of the board of all
    25  hearings held and provide the minutes, at no cost, to the injured worker
    26  and their representative in the native language of the  injured  worker.
    27  All  decisions  shall  be  issued  to the injured worker in their native
    28  language.  Whenever a hearing must be continued or adjourned because the
    29  carrier or employer has engaged in dilatory tactics or exhibited  unjus-
    30  tified  lack  of preparedness, the board shall impose a penalty of twen-
    31  ty-five dollars to be paid to the fund created  by  subdivision  two  of
    32  section one hundred fifty-one of this chapter and shall in addition make
    33  an award of seventy-five dollars payable to the injured worker or his or
    34  her  dependants.  Dilatory  tactics may include but shall not be limited
    35  to:  failing to subpoena medical witnesses or to secure an order to show
    36  cause as directed by the referee, failing to bring proper files, failing
    37  to appear, failing to produce witnesses or  documents  after  they  have
    38  been  requested by the referee or examiner or as directed by the hearing
    39  notice, unnecessarily protracting the production of evidence, or  engag-
    40  ing in a pattern of delay which unduly delays resolution, except that no
    41  penalty  shall  be  imposed nor award made under this subdivision if the
    42  carrier or employer produces evidence sufficient to excuse  its  conduct
    43  to the satisfaction of the referee.
    44    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.