Relates to hearings for determination of claims for compensation; requires the court to order a hearing within forty-five days after the filing of a claim by an injured employee, and to thereafter order a hearing within forty-five days of receipt of an application by either party.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6589
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 9, 2017
___________
Introduced by M. of A. MAYER -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Labor
AN ACT to amend the workers' compensation law, in relation to hearings
for determination of claims for compensation
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 20 of the workers' compensation
2 law, as amended by chapter 635 of the laws of 1996, is amended to read
3 as follows:
4 1. At any time after the expiration of the first seven days of disa-
5 bility on the part of an injured employee, or at any time after the
6 employee's death, a claim for compensation may be presented to the
7 employer or to the chair. The board shall have full power and authority
8 to determine all questions in relation to the payment of claims
9 presented to it for compensation under the provisions of this chapter.
10 The chair or board shall make or cause to be made such investigation as
11 it deems necessary, and upon application of either party, shall order a
12 hearing within forty-five days after the filing of a claim by an injured
13 employee, and thereafter shall order a hearing within forty-five days of
14 receipt of an application by either party, and within thirty days after
15 a claim for compensation is submitted under this section, or such hear-
16 ing closed, shall make or deny an award, determining such claim for
17 compensation, and file the same in the office of the chair. Immediately
18 after such filing the chair shall send to the parties a copy of the
19 decision. Upon a hearing pursuant to this section either party may
20 present evidence and be represented by counsel. The decision of the
21 board shall be final as to all questions of fact, and, except as
22 provided in section twenty-three of this article, as to all questions of
23 law. Except as provided in section twenty-seven of this article, all
24 awards of the board shall draw simple interest from thirty days after
25 the making thereof at the rate provided in section five thousand four of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09881-01-7
A. 6589 2
1 the civil practice law and rules. Whenever a hearing or proceeding for
2 the determination of a claim for compensation is begun before a referee,
3 pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, such hearing or proceeding
4 or any adjourned hearing thereon shall continue before the same referee
5 until a final determination awarding or denying compensation, except in
6 the absence, inability or disqualification to act of such referee, or
7 for other good cause, in which event such hearing or proceeding may be
8 continued before another referee by order of the chair or board.
9 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
10 it shall have become a law.