WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CARRIER ENTITLED TO REIMBURSEMENT OF BOTH TEMPORARY TOTAL DISABILITY PAYMENTS AND TEMPORARY PARTIAL DISABILITY PAYMENTS (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department determined the workers’ compensation carrier was entitled to reimbursement of both the temporary total disability and temporary partial disability payments in the years preceding the schedule loss of use (SLU) award by the Workers’ Compensation Law Judge. Claimant argued that, based on the wording of the statute, the carrier was entitled to only the temporary partial disability payments:

… [W]hile it is true that Workers’ Compensation Law § 15 (4-a) “expressly provides for . . . an offset in the case of an award for [a] temporary total disability [that] is not protracted” and that no corresponding language appears in Workers’ Compensation Law § 15 (5), which addresses temporary partial disability awards… , this Court consistently has held that “the schedule award is not allocable to any particular period of disability” … . …

As we discern no basis upon which to treat the carrier’s temporary total disability payments and temporary partial disability payments to claimant in a disparate fashion… , and in order to avoid what otherwise would be a significant windfall to claimant, we find that the Board’s decision — holding that “the carrier may take [a] credit for all prior [disability] payments” — to be supported by substantial evidence. Matter of Robinson v Workmen’s Circle Home, 2018 NY Slip Op 05652, Third Dept 8-2-18

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION (WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CARRIER ENTITLED TO REIMBURSEMENT OF BOTH TEMPORARY TOTAL DISABILITY PAYMENTS AND TEMPORARY PARTIAL DISABILITY PAYMENTS (THIRD DEPT))