This Week with the NYS WCB

  (1)  Re-Attachment ANCR:   neck, right thumb, right shoulder, right elbow, right index finger, right wrist, right hand, and right arm. DOL:  2018 CLASS:  50% LWEC, but no attachment to the labor market, 2019. Claimant filed several Forms C-258.1 between November 2019 and June 2021.  They indicated that she applied for 28 jobs through the internet, with a gap between October 2019 and December 2019, with all details documented for primarily administrative, clerical, and cashier positions.  She also produced a record demonstrating attendance at One Stop on 23 occasions with a copy of her resume. At a hearing in June of 2021, testimony was taken on attachment.  She searched for work per her restrictions, but never heard back from any of the potential employers who received her applications, and One Stop closed due to COVID.  The WCLJ found her reattached to the labor market and made awards from September 26, 2019 to June 30, 2021 and conti...

  (1) Labor Market Attachment This claim was established for the back, following a 1990 accident.  There was no lost time, and liability was transferred from the carrier to Special Funds under Section 25-a. Claimant also had a claim established for the neck from a 2002 accident with only three weeks of lost time.  A subsequent claim for a right shoulder arising out of a 2015 accident was indexed, but never established. On the neck claim, claimant raised the issue of causally-related lost time after retiring on June 1, 2016.  After several hearings were held addressing which claim or claims resulted in lost time awards, testimony as to retirement was held at a hearing in January 2017, at which time SF raised attachment.  In a Reserved Decision filed March 24, 2017, the Law Judge classified claimant with a 50% LWEC and made awards from June 1, 2016 to March 20, 2017 at $400.00 PPD, directed development of the record on attachment. On appeal, in a decision filed Oc...

  (1)  Variance Requests This claim is established for the lower back, left leg hematoma and right leg laceration from a 1995 accident,  Claimant was classified in 1996 and moved out of state in 2003. In 2018, osteoarthritis was raised in both hips, but the carrier's IME found that the right hip arthritis was unrelated, and disallowed the claim to amend ANCR. In 2019, an MG-2 was filed requesting a queen-sized electric adjustable bed frame, but no statement as to causal relationship was attached.   In 2021, after several re-submissions, the carrier denied the MG-2, citing no evidence of fall risk, or limitations in activities of daily living, or a change in condition.  New notes indicated that claimant needed a cane, slept in a recliner, and stated that an "orthopedic mattress without an industrial frame is useless." The ECLJ granted the MG-2 and the carrier appealed on the grounds that claimant needed an unrelated right hip surgery, causal relationship was...

 Once again, here are some recent Board Panel Decisions: (1)  Timely Objection s This claim was established for the back and consequential psychiatric condition from a 2005 accident,  The indemnity was settled, leaving the medical portion open. The carrier performed a records review in 2020.  At a hearing in June of that year, claimant's counsel raised no objection to it.  However, at a subsequent deposition, they stated on the record that the records review was defective under Section 137 for failure to produce all reports reviewed.  Ultimately, at a hearing held in May 2021, claimant's counsel argued for preclusion, which the Law Judge denied. The Board Panel noted that the regulations governing record reviews require an adverse party to raise a "timely objection," but does not give a specific deadline by which an objection must be made.  However, given the circumstances of the claim, which included the scheduling of three hearings and one deposition...