Assembly Bill A5003

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5003
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             February 10, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by M. of A. BRONSON, GLICK, SHIMSKY, TAPIA, STECK, DAVILA --
   read once and referred to the Committee on Labor
 
 AN ACT to amend the workers' compensation law, in relation to  prohibit-
   ing  cases  from being closed without a hearing or written stipulation
   and requiring a stenographic record  of  all  hearings  held;  and  to
   repeal certain provisions of such law relating thereto
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1.  Subdivision 2-b of section 25 of the workers' compensation
 law is REPEALED and subdivision 2-c is renumbered subdivision 2-b.
   § 2.  Paragraphs (b) and (c) of subdivision 3 of  section  25  of  the
 workers' compensation law, as amended by chapter 61 of the laws of 1986,
 are amended to read as follows:
   (b)  Nothing herein shall limit the right of the board in a particular
 case to hold a hearing and  make  an  award  in  accordance  with  other
 provisions  of  this  chapter.  No  case shall be closed AND NO DECISION
 SHALL BE ISSUED without A HEARING UPON notice to all parties  interested
 and without giving to all such parties an opportunity to be heard.
   (c)  The board shall keep an accurate STENOGRAPHIC record of all hear-
 ings 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] SUCH WORKER'S 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
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD06525-01-5
              

 A. 5003                             2
 
 proper files, failing to appear, failing to produce witnesses  or  docu-
 ments  after  they  have been requested by the referee or examiner or as
 directed by the hearing notice, unnecessarily protracting the production
 of  evidence,  or  engaging  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.
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.