This 158-page book covers everything injured workers want to know about accepting or rejecting a New York State Workers Compensation §32 settlement, to answer the hundreds of questions I have received while holding settlement hearings as a Commissioner at the Board and at my website since I left the Board in 2008.
I was a Commissioner at the Board when §32 settlement first started to appear in 1997. During that time, I personally had hearings with more than 6,000 claimants, keeping detailed notes in my own custom database, on every settlement, whether they were approved, adjourned, and rejected as well as every question and concern brought to my attention by the injured workers and their families.
With injured worker settlements ranging from their returning $47,000 to receiving in excess of $9,000,000 and some with no money being exchanged, many questions remain unanswered for injured workers seeking to close out their claims with a settlement. For example:
- What is a fair offer for an injured worker to settle their worker’s compensation claim? $100 or $20,000 or $150,000 or $1 Million?
- Can the insurance company be forced to settle?
- Can the claimant be forced to take a settlement?
- Will their private health insurance or Medicare pay for future medical expenses?
- Do they need an attorney? And, if so, what is a fair fee?
- What will happen if they decide to reject the settlement?
- What happens to medical bills still unpaid after the settlement?
- Can the insurance company be forced to settle?
- Can the employer interfere with or stop the settlement? Can anyone else?
For those who think that the understanding of the Section 32 is relatively simple, one would have a difficult time explaining the carrier's position in The Matter of Coleman v Compass Group Chartwells. After their demand that the claimant proceed with a §32 settlement was denied by the Workers Compensation Board, but the carrier appealed to the NYS Appellate Court, Third Department which affirmed Bord's decision that the claimant had the right to reject a proposed settlement even at the last minute (in this case at a second hearing before an Administrative Law Judge). And Compass' motion to appeal to the Court of Appeals was denied (October 10, 2013).
There are many other concerns and questions that are raised by claimants and their families, and employers, when considering Section 32's and this book addresses most of them.
This 158-page book consists of 15 chapters, detailed here.
Individual copies can be purchased on-line directly for $16.95 pus S&H from CreateSpace, a division of Amazon.
For distribution to injured workers and their families, there are quantity discounts and custom imprinting. Details are in the table on the right or you can contact:
The Insider
