Bill Text: NY A00903 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Prohibits cases from being closed without a hearing or written stipulation, requires a stenographic record of all hearings held; requires minutes and decisions to be provided to the injured worker in their native language.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-10 - enacting clause stricken [A00903 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A00903-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                           903

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 11, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. JOYNER -- 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:

     1    Section 1.  Subdivision 2-b of section 25 of the workers' compensation
     2  law is REPEALED and subdivision 2-c is renumbered subdivision 2-b.
     3    §  2.    Paragraphs  (b) and (c) of subdivision 3 of section 25 of the
     4  workers' compensation law, as amended by chapter 61 of the laws of 1986,
     5  are amended to read as follows:
     6    (b) Nothing herein shall limit the right of the board in a  particular
     7  case  to  hold  a  hearing  and  make  an award in accordance with other
     8  provisions of this chapter. No case shall  be  closed  and  no  decision
     9  shall  be issued without a hearing upon notice to all parties interested
    10  and without giving to all such parties an opportunity to be heard.
    11    (c) The board shall keep an accurate stenographic record of all  hear-
    12  ings held and provide the minutes, at no cost, to the injured worker and
    13  their  representative in the native language of the injured worker.  All
    14  decisions shall  be  issued  to  the  injured  worker  in  their  native
    15  language.  Whenever a hearing must be continued or adjourned because the
    16  carrier  or employer has engaged in dilatory tactics or exhibited unjus-
    17  tified lack of preparedness, the board shall impose a penalty  of  twen-
    18  ty-five  dollars  to  be  paid to the fund created by subdivision two of
    19  section one hundred fifty-one of this chapter and shall in addition make
    20  an award of seventy-five dollars payable to the injured worker or his or
    21  her dependants. Dilatory tactics may include but shall  not  be  limited
    22  to:  failing to subpoena medical witnesses or to secure an order to show
    23  cause as directed by the referee, failing to bring proper files, failing

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00722-01-3
        A. 903                              2

     1  to  appear,  failing  to  produce witnesses or documents after they have
     2  been requested by the referee or examiner or as directed by the  hearing
     3  notice,  unnecessarily protracting the production of evidence, or engag-
     4  ing in a pattern of delay which unduly delays resolution, except that no
     5  penalty  shall  be  imposed nor award made under this subdivision if the
     6  carrier or employer produces evidence sufficient to excuse  its  conduct
     7  to the satisfaction of the referee.
     8    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.