This Week with the NYS WCB

 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...

 Good Afternoon All.   This past week, the Workers' Compensation Board issued decisions touching on these subjects: (A)  Incomplete Forms RB-89 In three decisions, the Board denied review of appeals due to several technicalities.  One decision involved a notation in Box 15 stating the date  that exception was noted, a detail the Board clarified some time ago, but not the exact ruling from which an exception was taken .  Two others involved exceptions not being noted on the record itself, which remains fatal. The best practice now appears to be to ensure that exceptions are expressly noted on the record in response to every adverse ruling, and that it be stated with particularity what ruling an exception is being noted against, and specifically repeating this detail on Form RB-89.   AMI Leasing   2021 WL 303751 (WCB  5020 5821 January 26, 2021) NYC Department of Corrections   2021 WL 303754 (WCB  G077 9814 January 26, 2021)...