If you are tired of being treated like a number, call The Law Offices of Melissa A. Day at (716) 616-0111
One issue that I have come across several times in my legal career is whether or not a claimant qualifies as an independent contractor or an employee. The Board Panel recently reviewed this issue in the case of Matter of Clare Hayduscko, 219 N.Y. Wrk. Comp. 40708094...
This was a claim which was established in 2018, where despite substantial opportunity with her own medical providers, the claimant failed to report that she had returned to work after the accident of this file. The issue was aggressively litigated for fraud, as the...
The claimant injured his back working as a mechanic for a car dealership. In November 2019 his wife’s niece requested on Facebook for recommendations for someone who could remodel her bathroom. The claimant’s wife responds that her husband, the claimant, is really...
Matter of Jacobi is a case that drastically altered how change in conditions for classified claimants are handled. If you recall, for a period of time once a claimant was classified their rate didn’t change to total – even if their doctor said they were totally...
Recently, we have been successful in getting claims dismissed for failing to comply with WCL Section 18. As part and parcel of those determinations, the Board has to make a determination that the employer was prejudiced by the late notice. It is the claimant’s...
What do you do when a claimant makes a claim for both noise-induced hearing loss AND traumatic hearing loss, under the theory of, “well, it’s gotta be one of those two,” and your Independent Medical Examination on causal relationship’s been precluded under §137? The...
This was a controverted claim by an employee for an alleged injury to the left knee. The issue for litigation which ultimately led to a disallowance of the claim was causal relationship. The claimant claimed to have injured his knee while working. The claimant did not...
In a Reserved Decision, Judge Balogun ruled that a claimant was not entitled to multiple SLU awards or loss of wage earning capacity as there was no permanency or schedule assignable for the injuries sustained. The claimant suffered work injuries to the neck, back and...
By Reserved Decision, the presiding Worker’s Compensation Law Judge in the Watertown, NY hearing location found that no employer-employee relationship existed between the claimant and our client, or another individual who owns the property where the alleged injury...
NEW PROCEDURE FOR RECOUPING OVERPAYMENTS AND EDI On 6/10/20, the board published proposed changes to 12 NYCRR 300.22 and 300.23, “to reflect updates to the eClaims process that incorporate EDI version 3.1.” The proposed changes address the procedure following a...
Paul B. Kornacki, Associate Attorney 10/31/2022 Our firm recently handled a death claim resulting from a fall from a ladder. In this matter, our client was an auto dealership who had hired an individual to weatherize a large service door. Through our investigation it...
Andrew P. Gould, Associate Attorney 10/21/2022 Rise comrades! Increasingly, legislation is making its way through Albany to the governor's desk before many carriers, self-insured employers and defense attorneys even know it was proposed. Most notoriously, Senate Bill...
Shannan M. Mackey, Associate Attorney 10/17/2022 Did you follow all the rules to use a diagnostic network [where the claimant and provider ignored the notice] and the Board nevertheless issued a Proposed Decision saying to pay your diagnostic fees at the network rate?...
Neil A. Diegelman, Associate Attorney 10/20/2022 When a claimant is working and collecting worker’s compensation indemnity benefits and does not disclose to anyone that they are working, they have likely committed fraud. In a recent case LOMAD was handling, a claimant...