New York: $500 Penalty Assessed Against Claimant’s Attorney Affirmed

The state’s Workers’ Compensation Board was within its discretion when it assessed a $500 fine against a New York claimant’s attorney under N.Y. Workers’ Comp. Law § 114-a(3)(ii), after the attorney sought review of a decision by WCLJ denying a late payment penalty under N.Y. Workers’ Comp. Law § 25(3)(f). At the hearing on the claimant’s petition seeking late payment penalties, the carrier argued that it had an additional day to pay the ordered benefits because of the Memorial Day holiday. The WCLJ agreed and ruled against the claimant. On appeal, the appellate court indicated there was but one reading of the statute. It was clear that the payment had been timely made and claimant’s appeal continued the proceeding without reasonable cause.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Matter of Curcio v Sherwood 370 Mgt., LLC, 2019 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6838 (3d Dept. Sept. 26, 2019)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 135.02.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see