Claim of Lauritano v. Consolidated Edison Co.

Summary

The Appellate Division affirmed the Workers’ Compensation Board’s determination transferring liability to the Special Fund for Reopened Cases under Workers’ Compensation Law § 25-a. It held that wages paid under the employer’s sick-leave plan, which covered disability regardless of its cause, were not payments of compensation that would prevent transfer of liability. The court also rejected the argument that all payments by a self-insured employer constitute compensation.

Holdings

1. The Board properly determined that liability transferred to the Special Fund because the payments made to the claimant during his 1999 and 2000 absence were sick-leave wages, not payments of workers' compensation.
2. Payments made by a self-insured employer are not automatically payments of workers' compensation for purposes of Workers' Compensation Law § 25-a.

Questions Presented

1. Whether liability for the reopened workers' compensation claim transferred to the Special Fund under Workers' Compensation Law § 25-a.
2. Whether wages paid under the employer's sick-leave plan during the claimant's 1999 and 2000 absence constituted payments of compensation that prevented transfer of liability to the Special Fund.

Disposition

affirmed