Provides that either party to a workers compensation claim can request a hearing; requires a record of all hearings held.
A04742 would change several procedures in New York’s workers’ compensation system. It requires the Workers’ Compensation Board to index a claim immediately upon receiving a medical report together with either an injured worker’s claim or an employer injury/illness report. It also directs the board to hold an initial hearing within 60 days after a claim is indexed for claims involving lost wages or lost time, and to grant either party, or their attorney, the right to request a referee hearing within 45 calendar days of the application. The bill further states that no party hearing request may be limited by board-imposed prerequisites, penalties, or other restrictions.
The bill also adds recordkeeping and notice requirements. The board must keep an accurate record of all hearings, and decisions must be issued to the injured worker in their native language. Existing penalties for carriers or employers that cause unnecessary adjournments through delay or lack of preparedness would remain in place, including a $25 penalty to a fund and a $75 award to the injured worker or dependents. The measure is intended to speed up claim processing, improve access to hearings, and strengthen transparency in the adjudication of workers’ compensation claims.
Its impact on state law would be to amend sections 20 and 25 of the Workers’ Compensation Law, expanding procedural rights for claimants, employers, and their attorneys while imposing tighter deadlines on the board. It would also formalize a requirement that the board maintain a hearing record and provide decisions in the worker’s native language, which could affect board administration, translation practices, and hearing scheduling statewide.
The available voting history suggests broad committee support, with unanimous favorable votes in the Assembly Labor Committee and Assembly Codes Committee. No committee transcript was provided, but the bill’s progression indicates general agreement with its goal of reducing delay and improving access to hearings. The main points of potential contention are likely to be the new mandatory timelines, the removal of board-imposed limits on hearing requests, and the administrative burden of immediate indexing, recordkeeping, and native-language decision delivery on the board and carriers.
A04742 would amend the Workers’ Compensation Law to require faster claim indexing, mandatory initial hearings within 60 days for wage-loss claims, and a right for either party or counsel to obtain a referee hearing within 45 days without board-imposed prerequisites or penalties. It also requires the board to keep an accurate record of hearings and to issue decisions to injured workers in their native language, while preserving existing delay penalties against employers and carriers. The bill would therefore affect the Workers’ Compensation Board, injured workers, employers, carriers, referees, and attorneys involved in compensation claims.
The bill appears to have favorable momentum based on the voting history, with unanimous committee approvals in both the Assembly Labor Committee and Assembly Codes Committee. That suggests broad support for the bill’s purpose of speeding up workers’ compensation proceedings and improving procedural fairness. No transcript was provided, so there is no direct record of debate, but the committee votes indicate generally positive sentiment toward the measure.
The likely areas of contention are procedural and administrative rather than ideological. Employers and insurance carriers may object to the shortened hearing deadlines, the prohibition on board-imposed limitations or penalties for hearing requests, and the continued exposure to delay penalties. The Workers’ Compensation Board may also face concerns about workload, compliance with immediate indexing, maintaining complete hearing records, and providing decisions in workers’ native languages. Supporters are likely to emphasize claimant access, transparency, and faster resolution of claims.