Tag Archives: Albany

Outrage Over Proposed Benefit Cuts Dominates Public Comment Period – How To Keep Pressure On Lawmakers

As you may recall, the issue of Workers’ Compensation benefits for injured workers was used as a bargaining chip in Albany during this year’s budget negotiations. A compromise was reached that would update the current medical treatment guidelines to reduce costs to employers while still protecting the rights of injured workers. October 23, 2017, was the final day interested parties could comment regarding the proposed changes. 

In order to reach this goal, the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board was directed to put together a task force with input from labor, the insurance industry, medical providers, and the Business Council to revise the impairment guidelines to reflect “advances in modern medicine that enhance healing and result in better outcomes.” On the Friday of a holiday weekend, in order to diminish media coverage of the results, the final draft was released. This was not a revision, but rather a full-scale re-write of the guidelines. Labor groups, injured workers’ advocates, and member s of the State Legislature were justifiably outraged.

One of the provisions would allow insurance company doctors to question injured workers without their lawyer present, which could negatively impact future legal proceedings. If an injured worker refused to answer a question, the insurance company doctor could deem the injured worker as “uncooperative,” which could result in a suspension of benefits. Even worse, the end results of these proposed guidelines would slash benefits in some cases up to 97%, and for others, there would be none. 

As a result of the controversy, the New York State Assembly Labor Committee held a public hearing at which representatives of the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board testified first about the procedure used to formulate their revisions. They testified that they had a number of meetings with the Orthopedic Society, as well as discussions with the AFL-CIO and the insurance industry.  A number of additional witnesses testified, including members of the task force, and it became abundantly clear that the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board started their own re-write to these guidelines more than two years prior to any direction to do so. It was also clear that the end result had little resemblance to the recommendations made by the AFL-CIO or the Orthopedic Society.

It is now more than 45 days since the proposed re-write was put out for public comment, and the list of those who are opposed is tremendous. On October 18, worker advocates showed up at a number of Workers’ Compensation Board locations across the state for Days of Action including at Hauppauge, Brooklyn, and Buffalo. More than 100,000 postcards objecting to the proposed changes were delivered.  Members of the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union, the AFL-CIO, NYCOSH, New York City District Council of Carpenters, DC37, and countless more have all publicly railed against these changes.  Members of the Legislature have called out the Workers’ Compensation Board for overstepping their authority and for proposing changes that would vastly favor the Business Council over the injured worker. 

While the comment period is finished, you can still voice your outrage by contacting your State Senator and Assembly member and telling them that injured workers don’t deserve to lose any more benefits.  Sometimes after an injury, Workers’ Compensation is what prevents a worker from losing everything.

 

Catherine M. Stanton is a senior partner in the law firm of Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano, LLP. She focuses on the area of Workers’ Compensation, having helped thousands of injured workers navigate a highly complex system and obtain all the benefits to which they were entitled. Ms. Stanton has been honored as a New York Super Lawyer, is the past president of the New York Workers’ Compensation Bar Association, the immediate past president of the Workers’ Injury Law and Advocacy Group, and is an officer in several organizations dedicated to injured workers and their families. She can be reached at 800.692.3717.

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Lobby Albany For Fair Treatment Of Injured Workers And Their Families

Last week I went to Albany to participate in Lobby Day on behalf of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association (NYSTLA). Our organization went to the capital to meet with members of the State Assembly and Senate to discuss a number of bills, outlining our support or opposition to proposed changes in various laws. 

There are two bills in particular that were borne out of heartbreak and therefore, impossible to understand why they have not been enacted into law. The first is the bill on Date of Discovery — commonly referred to as Lavern’s Law. You may be familiar with the background behind Lavern’s law as the Daily News published an article in 2015 about Lavern. She was a single mother who had visited a City hospital after feeling ill. The hospital sent her home even after an x-ray showed a suspicious mass in her lung. If she had been advised by the doctor about this, she would probably still be alive as the mass was a curable form of lung cancer. Tragically, she was not told about the results until it was too late and her condition was terminal. Lavern died in 2013, leaving behind a developmentally disabled daughter who was barred from bringing a lawsuit against the hospital and doctor because the time to bring a lawsuit had passed. The statute of limitations begins to run at the time of the malpractice, not when the malpractice was discovered. 

Sadly, this travesty has affected others who were never advised that their test results were abnormal.   We assume that once we have tests performed, doctors would notify us in a timely manner of any problems. But what if they don’t? There are a number of cases where CT scan results, mammograms, x-rays, and Pap smears all were misread or never reviewed, resulting in life-threatening consequences or death. For Lavern and others, this lifesaving information was never provided – and that failure proved fatal.  New York’s statute of limitations on malpractice is old and antiquated and needs to be updated.  We are one of only six states with a time limit that starts once an injury is caused and not when it is discovered. Lavern’s Law would provide a 2½-year statute of limitations from the time the person knew or should have known that a negligent act caused an injury. Governor Andrew Cuomo, understanding the impact, agreed to sign the bill into law if it passed the Senate and Assembly. 

The second bill proposed is known as the Grieving Families Law and would change the current New York Law on Wrongful Death, which only allows families to recover the lost income from a family member who died.  Many of my colleagues told stories of having to advise a grief-stricken family that their homemaker spouse, or child, or elderly parent’s life was worthless under the law, as the law only values the lives of high wage earners. This archaic law was enacted in 1847, and has never been amended.  While many other states have acknowledged that the loss of a loved one is monumental, and that the wrongdoers should be held accountable, New York is not one of them. This proposed law would allow families to be compensated for the profound emotional loss and grief caused by a wrongdoer. 

What these laws also will accomplish is to promote a safer society by holding wrongdoers accountable for their actions. It may be too late for Lavern and others in her situation, but by passing these laws, we may be able to prevent future tragedies and show that Lavern did not die in vain.     

 

Catherine M. Stanton is a senior partner in the law firm of Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano, LLP. She focuses on the area of Workers’ Compensation, having helped thousands of injured workers navigate a highly complex system and obtain all the benefits to which they were entitled. Ms. Stanton has been honored as a New York Super Lawyer, is the past president of the New York Workers’ Compensation Bar Association, the immediate past president of the Workers’ Injury Law and Advocacy Group, and is an officer in several organizations dedicated to injured workers and their families. She can be reached at 800.692.3717.

Prior results do not guarantee outcomes.
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