S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8988
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             January 31, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by M. of A. BRONSON -- read once and referred to the Commit-
   tee 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
 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
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD09993-01-3
 A. 8988                             2
 
 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.