STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4742 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 6, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. BRONSON, LUNSFORD, GONZALEZ-ROJAS, RAGA, LUCAS, HEVESI, SHRESTHA, SANTABARBARA, DAVILA, COLTON, MEEKS -- 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 record of all hearings held The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivisions 1, 2 and 3 of section 20 of the workers' 2 compensation law are renumbered subdivisions 2, 3 and 4 and a new subdi- 3 vision 1 is added to read as follows: 4 1. The board shall index a claim for workers' compensation immediately 5 upon the receipt of a medical report in addition to either a claim filed 6 by the injured worker or an employer's report of injury or illness. 7 § 2. Subdivision 2 of section 20 of the workers' compensation law, 8 as amended by chapter 635 of the laws of 1996 and as renumbered by 9 section one of this act, is amended to read as follows: 10 2. [At any time after the expiration of the first seven days of disa- 11 bility on the part of an injured employee, or at any time after the 12 employee's death, a claim for compensation may be presented to the 13 employer or to the chair. The] Within sixty days after a claim for 14 compensation has been indexed, the board shall hold an initial hearing 15 for each claim in which the injured worker asserts lost wages or lost 16 time due to injury and shall have full power and authority to determine 17 all questions in relation to the payment of claims presented to it for 18 compensation under the provisions of this chapter. The chair or board 19 shall thereafter make or cause to be made such investigation as it deems 20 necessary, and upon application of either party or an attorney repres- 21 enting either party, shall order a hearing before a referee to take 22 place within forty-five calendar days of the application from either 23 party, and within thirty days after a claim for compensation is submit- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD06076-02-5
A. 4742 2 1 ted under this section, or such hearing closed, shall make or deny an 2 award, determining such claim for compensation, and file the same in the 3 office of the chair. No application for a hearing made by a party or an 4 attorney pursuant to this section shall be subject to limitations, 5 prerequisites, or penalties imposed by the board. Immediately after such 6 filing the chair shall send to the parties a copy of the decision. Upon 7 a hearing pursuant to this section either party may present evidence and 8 be represented by counsel. The decision of the board shall be final as 9 to all questions of fact, and, except as provided in section twenty- 10 three of this article, as to all questions of law. Except as provided 11 in section twenty-seven of this article, all awards of the board shall 12 draw simple interest from thirty days after the making thereof at the 13 rate provided in section five thousand four of the civil practice law 14 and rules. Whenever a hearing or proceeding for the determination of a 15 claim for compensation is begun before a referee, pursuant to the 16 provisions of this chapter, such hearing or proceeding or any adjourned 17 hearing thereon shall continue before the same referee until a final 18 determination awarding or denying compensation, except in the absence, 19 inability or disqualification to act of such referee, or for other good 20 cause, in which event such hearing or proceeding may be continued before 21 another referee by order of the chair or board. 22 § 3. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 3 of section 25 of the workers' 23 compensation law, as amended by chapter 61 of the laws of 1986, is 24 amended to read as follows: 25 (c) The board shall keep an accurate record of all hearings held. All 26 decisions shall be issued to the injured worker in their native 27 language. Whenever a hearing must be continued or adjourned because the 28 carrier or employer has engaged in dilatory tactics or exhibited unjus- 29 tified lack of preparedness, the board shall impose a penalty of twen- 30 ty-five dollars to be paid to the fund created by subdivision two of 31 section one hundred fifty-one of this chapter and shall in addition make 32 an award of seventy-five dollars payable to the injured worker or [his 33 or her dependants] their dependents. Dilatory tactics may include but 34 shall not be limited to: failing to subpoena medical witnesses or to 35 secure an order to show cause as directed by the referee, failing to 36 bring proper files, failing to appear, failing to produce witnesses or 37 documents after they have been requested by the referee or examiner or 38 as directed by the hearing notice, unnecessarily protracting the 39 production of evidence, or engaging in a pattern of delay which unduly 40 delays resolution, except that no penalty shall be imposed nor award 41 made under this subdivision if the carrier or employer produces evidence 42 sufficient to excuse its conduct to the satisfaction of the referee. 43 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.