S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
5867
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
March 20, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. RAMOS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed 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
S. 5867 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.
