Bill Text: NY S08445 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended

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

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-02-13 - REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO FINANCE [S08445 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S08445-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         8445--A

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 30, 2024
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen.  RAMOS  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be  committed  to  the  Committee  on  Labor  --  committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to said committee

        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 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  in which the injured worker asserts lost wages or lost
    16  time due to injury and shall have full power and authority to  determine
    17  all  questions  in relation to the payment of claims presented to it for
    18  compensation under the provisions of this chapter. The  chair  or  board
    19  shall thereafter make or cause to be made such investigation as it deems
    20  necessary,  and  upon application of either party or an attorney repres-
    21  enting either party, shall order a hearing  before  a  referee  to  take
    22  place  within  forty-five  calendar  days of the application from either
    23  party, and within thirty days after a claim for compensation is  submit-
    24  ted  under  this  section, or such hearing closed, shall make or deny an
    25  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.
                                                                   LBD09993-04-4
        S. 8445--A                          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 record of all hearings held.  All
    24  decisions  shall  be  issued to the injured   worker   in  their  native
    25  language. Whenever a hearing must be continued or adjourned because  the
    26  carrier  or employer has engaged in dilatory tactics or exhibited unjus-
    27  tified lack of preparedness, the board shall impose a penalty  of  twen-
    28  ty-five  dollars  to  be  paid to the fund created by subdivision two of
    29  section one hundred fifty-one of this chapter and shall in addition make
    30  an award of seventy-five dollars payable to the injured worker or his or
    31  her dependants. Dilatory tactics may include but shall  not  be  limited
    32  to:  failing to subpoena medical witnesses or to secure an order to show
    33  cause as directed by the referee, failing to bring proper files, failing
    34  to  appear,  failing  to  produce witnesses or documents after they have
    35  been requested by the referee or examiner or as directed by the  hearing
    36  notice,  unnecessarily protracting the production of evidence, or engag-
    37  ing in a pattern of delay which unduly delays resolution, except that no
    38  penalty shall be imposed nor award made under this  subdivision  if  the
    39  carrier  or  employer produces evidence sufficient to excuse its conduct
    40  to the satisfaction of the referee.
    41    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.