New York: Reimbursement from Special Fund Requires Showing That Preexisting Condition Hindered Employability

In order to obtain reimbursement from the state’s Special Disability Fund pursuant to N.Y. Workers’ Comp. Law § 15(8), it is not enough for the employer or carrier to show that the claimant had one or more previous physical impairments; it must also show that the claimant's preexisting conditions hindered or were likely to hinder her employability. Accordingly, where claimant, a licensed practical nurse, had been previously diagnosed with congenital aortic valve disease with aortic insufficiency and supraventricular tachycardia, but where the examining physician’s report acknowledged that such condition, if controlled by medication, had been found not to constitute a hindrance to employability, the Board’s finding that the carrier had complied with § 15(8) was not supported by substantial evidence.

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 Ricci v Maria Regina Residence, 2018 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8907 (Dec. 27, 2018)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 91.02.

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