New York: Worker’s Failure to Give Statutory Notice of Injury Was Not Excused

New York’s Workers’ Compensation Board acted within its statutory powers when it found that a worker failed to provide the employer with the required notice under N.Y. Workers’ Comp. § 18, held a state appellate court. While the court noted that the worker was not proficient in English, the court said that was not a sufficient reason to excuse compliance with the notice statute. The employer acknowledged that the worker, a truck driver, told two supervisors that he had pain in his knee and that a physician placed him “off work” for a short period. Evidence indicated, however, that the worker did not mention any connection between his knee pain and his work. The appellate court held that under these circumstances, the Board could find that the worker had failed to give the required notice.

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 Nukicic v. McLane Northeast, 2019 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5821 (July 25, 2019)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 126.01.

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

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see