THE BOARD DEPARTED FROM ITS PRECEDENT WITHOUT EXPLANATION, REVERSED AND REMITTED (THIRD DEPT).
The Third Department, reversing the Workers’ Compensation Board, determined the Board departed from its precedent without explanation:
… [T]he Board did not follow its precedent in finding that, due to his failure to show labor market attachment, he had no compensable lost time from June 16, 2016 to January 26, 2017. The Board has previously held that findings regarding labor market attachment are limited to the period subsequent to the date when the issue was first raised by the workers’ compensation carrier … . Although the record reflects that the Special Fund first raised labor market attachment during the January 26, 2017 hearing, the Board found no compensable time from June 1, 2016 to November 9, 2018 based upon a lack of proof of labor market attachment. “While the Board is free to alter a course previously set out in its decisions, it must set forth its reasons for doing so, and the Board’s failure to do so renders its decision arbitrary and capricious” … Inasmuch as the Board did not explain its departure from prior precedent in finding that claimant was not entitled to awards from June 1, 2016 to January 26, 2017, that part of the decision must be reversed and the matter remitted for further proceedings … . Matter of Delk v Orange & Rockland, 2021 NY Slip Op 00604, Second Dept 2-4-21