Workers’ Compensation insurance provides weekly cash payments and the cost of full medical treatment, including rehabilitation, for employees who become disabled as a result of a disease or injury connected with their employment. It also provides payments for qualified dependents of a worker who dies from a compensable injury or illness.
In administering this program, the Workers’ Compensation Board receives and processes workers’ claims for benefits, employers’ reports of injury, and medical reports from physicians and other health care providers. The Board adjudicates and resolves all issues and makes decisions and awards to ensure that claimants receive the benefits and medical treatment to which they are entitled. Hearings are conducted before law judges, or, in the case of an appeal, before a panel of three Board members.
When the Workers’ Compensation Law was enacted, workers gave up the right to sue the employer in exchange for medical care and payment for their injuries. Exceptions to the Workers’ Compensation Law include: accidents caused solely due to the intoxication of the injured employee; accidents caused by the willful intent of the injured employee; and accidents caused by the intentional actions of or at the direction of the employer.
The New York State Workers’ Compensation Board administers various laws which protect the rights of injured workers. These include the Workers’ Compensation Law, the Disability Benefits Law; the Volunteer Firefighters’ Benefit Law and the Volunteer Ambulance Workers’ Benefit Law.
Here at Lipsitz, Ponterio & Comerford, it is our mission to ensure that each injured worker, or the family of a deceased worker, is treated fairly and reasonably by the insurance company under the Workers’ Compensation Law. Many compensation carriers choose to ignore the Workers’ Compensation Law, or “bend” the law to suit their needs and convenience. At Lipsitz, Ponterio & Comerford we only represent the interests of the injured worker, not the compensation carrier. You and your loved ones can rest assured that under our representation you will be treated fairly and equitably by the insurance carrier, and your claim will be resolved as expeditiously as possible.