THE CARRIER’S FAILURE TO INDICATE WHEN IT OBJECTED TO THE RULING OF THE WORKERS’ COMPENSATION LAW JUDGE JUSTIFIED THE DENIAL OF THE CARRIER’S APPLICATION FOR REVIEW (THIRD DEPT).
The Third Department determined the Workers’ Compensation Board did not abuse its discretion when it denied the carrier’s application for review because question 15 on the application form did not indicate when the relevant objection to the Workers’ Compensation Law Judge (WCLJ) was made:
When the carrier filed its application for Board review … , question number 15 on that form, as well as the accompanying instructions in effect at that time, requested that it “[s]pecify the objection or exception interposed to the ruling and when the objection or exception was interposed as required by 12 NYCRR 300.13 (b) (2) (ii).” In response to question number 15, the carrier stated, “Please note the carrier’s objection to not finding a transfer of liability to the Special Funds Conservation Committee pursuant to [Workers’ Compensation Law §] 25-a.” The Board found that the carrier’s response was incomplete because there were “several hearings [that] had taken place prior to the hearing [on] July 3, 2018,” and the carrier’s response to question number 15 did “not include the date of the hearing at which the exception to the WCLJ’s ruling was interposed, as required.” Both the regulation itself and the instructions in effect at the time that the carrier filed its application for Board review unambiguously required the carrier to “specify the objection or exception that was interposed to the [WCLJ’s] ruling, and when the objection or exception was interposed” … . As such, a complete response to question number 15 required the carrier to specify the nature of its objections or exceptions and indicate when such objections or exceptions were interposed. Although the carrier satisfied the first prong of the regulation by articulating specific objections to the WCLJ’s rulings, it failed to satisfy the temporal element of the regulation by indicating when such objections were made. Accordingly, under the circumstances presented here, in which the carrier failed to provide the requisite temporal element in its response to question number 15, we find that the Board did not abuse its discretion in denying the carrier’s application for Board review … . Matter of Barrera v Corinthian Cast Stone, Inc., 2020 NY Slip Op 01880, Third Dept 3-16-20
Similar issue and result in Matter of Currie v Rist Transp. Ltd., 2020 NY Slip Op 01874, Third Dept 3-16-20
Similar issue and result in Matter of Perry v All Am. Sch. Bus Corp., 2020 NY Slip Op 01869, Third Dept 3-16-20