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.