COMPENSATION FOR CARE BY CLAIMANT’S FAMILY MEMBER MUST BE PAID TO THE CLAIMANT, NOT THE FAMILY MEMBER 3RD DEPT.

The Third Department, reversing the Workers’ Compensation Board, determined compensation paid directly to claimant’s wife for her care of claimant should have been paid to claimant:

This Court has previously held “that payment of the reimbursement of the costs for [a spouse’s] services must be made to [the] claimant, not to the spouse” … . The Board’s interpretation and reliance on Matter of Perrin v Builders Resource, Inc. (116 AD3d 1208 [2014]) to reach a different conclusion is misplaced. The issue in Matter of Perrin was whether the claimant was aggrieved by the pay rate set for the home health aide services provided by the claimant’s sister. In concluding that the appeal therein must be dismissed because the claimant was not aggrieved, this Court did not, as found by the Board, tacitly overrule any prior decisions of this Court with regard to whom reimbursement of payments is to be made with regard to home health care services provided by a spouse or family member. As we find no basis to depart from this Court’s prior case law that, under such circumstances, “[t]he amount of the award . . . must be paid only to the claimant,” the Board’s decision must be reversed … . Matter of Buckner v Buckner & Kourofsky, LLP, 2017 NY Slip Op 05650, 3rd Dept, 7-13-17

WORKERS’ COMPENSATION LAW (COMPENSATION FOR CARE BY CLAIMANT’S FAMILY MEMBER MUST BE PAID TO THE CLAIMANT, NOT THE FAMILY MEMBER 3RD DEPT)