S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6208
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                               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:
 
   Section 1. Subdivisions 1, 2 and 3  of  section  20  of  the  workers'
 compensation law are renumbered subdivisions 2, 3 and 4 and a new subdi-
 vision 1 is added to read as follows:
   1. THE BOARD SHALL INDEX A CLAIM FOR WORKERS' COMPENSATION IMMEDIATELY
 UPON THE RECEIPT OF A MEDICAL REPORT IN ADDITION TO EITHER A CLAIM FILED
 BY THE INJURED WORKER OR AN EMPLOYER'S REPORT OF INJURY OR ILLNESS.
   §  2.   Subdivision  2 of section 20 of the workers' compensation law,
 as added by chapter 635 of the laws of 1996 and as renumbered by section
 one of this act, is amended to read as follows:
   2. [At any time after the expiration of the first seven days of  disa-
 bility  on  the  part  of  an injured employee, or at any time after the
 employee's death, a claim for  compensation  may  be  presented  to  the
 employer  or  to  the  chair.  The]  WITHIN SIXTY DAYS AFTER A CLAIM FOR
 COMPENSATION HAS BEEN INDEXED, THE board shall HOLD AN  INITIAL  HEARING
 FOR  EACH CLAIM AND SHALL have full power and authority to determine all
 questions in relation to the payment  of  claims  presented  to  it  for
 compensation  under  the  provisions of this chapter. The chair or board
 shall THEREAFTER make or cause to be made such investigation as it deems
 necessary, and upon application of either party OR AN  ATTORNEY  REPRES-
 ENTING  EITHER  PARTY,  shall  order  a hearing BEFORE A REFEREE TO TAKE
 PLACE WITHIN FORTY-FIVE CALENDAR DAYS OF  THE  APPLICATION  FROM  EITHER
 PARTY,  and within thirty days after a claim for compensation is submit-
 ted under this section, or such hearing closed, shall make  or  deny  an
 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
 
 office of the chair.  NO APPLICATION FOR A HEARING MADE BY A PARTY OR AN
 ATTORNEY  PURSUANT  TO  THIS  SECTION  SHALL  BE SUBJECT TO LIMITATIONS,
 PREREQUISITES, OR PENALTIES IMPOSED BY THE BOARD. Immediately after such
 filing the chair shall send to the parties a copy of the decision.  Upon
 a hearing pursuant to this section either party may present evidence and
 be  represented by counsel.  The decision of the board shall be final as
 to all questions of fact, and, except as  provided  in  section  twenty-
 three  of  this article, as to all questions of law.  Except as provided
 in section twenty-seven of this article, all awards of the  board  shall
 draw  simple  interest  from thirty days after the making thereof at the
 rate provided in section five thousand four of the  civil  practice  law
 and  rules.  Whenever a hearing or proceeding for the determination of a
 claim for compensation is  begun  before  a  referee,  pursuant  to  the
 provisions  of this chapter, such hearing or proceeding or any adjourned
 hearing thereon shall continue before the same  referee  until  a  final
 determination  awarding  or denying compensation, except in the absence,
 inability or disqualification to act of such referee, or for other  good
 cause, in which event such hearing or proceeding may be continued before
 another referee by order of the chair or board.
   §  3.  Paragraph  (c)  of  subdivision 3 of section 25 of the workers'
 compensation law, as amended by chapter 61  of  the  laws  of  1986,  is
 amended to read as follows:
   (c)  The  board  shall  keep an accurate STENOGRAPHIC record AND TRAN-
 SCRIPT RECORDED BY A VERBATIM REPORTER IN THE EMPLOY OF THE BOARD of all
 hearings held AND PROVIDE THE MINUTES, AT NO COST, TO THE INJURED WORKER
 AND THEIR REPRESENTATIVE IN THE NATIVE LANGUAGE OF THE  INJURED  WORKER.
 ALL  DECISIONS  SHALL  BE  ISSUED  TO THE INJURED WORKER IN THEIR NATIVE
 LANGUAGE.  Whenever a hearing must be continued or adjourned because the
 carrier or employer has engaged in dilatory tactics or exhibited  unjus-
 tified  lack  of preparedness, the board shall impose a penalty of twen-
 ty-five dollars to be paid to the fund created  by  subdivision  two  of
 section one hundred fifty-one of this chapter and shall in addition make
 an award of seventy-five dollars payable to the injured worker or his or
 her  dependants.  Dilatory  tactics may include but shall not be limited
 to:  failing to subpoena medical witnesses or to secure an order to show
 cause as directed by the referee, failing to bring proper files, failing
 to appear, failing to produce witnesses or  documents  after  they  have
 been  requested by the referee or examiner or as directed by the hearing
 notice, unnecessarily protracting the production of evidence, or  engag-
 ing in a pattern of delay which unduly delays resolution, except that no
 penalty  shall  be  imposed nor award made under this subdivision if the
 carrier or employer produces evidence sufficient to excuse  its  conduct
 to the satisfaction of the referee.
   § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.