Washington v. Human Techs.

• Decision Date: 14 March 2019
• Docket Number: 526054
• Citation: 93 N.Y.S.3d 756,170 A.D.3d 1349
• Parties: In the Matter of the Claim of Michael WASHINGTON, Appellant, v. HUMAN TECHNOLOGIES et al., Respondents. Workers' Compensation Board, Respondent.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

170 A.D.3d 1349
93 N.Y.S.3d 756

In the Matter of the Claim of Michael WASHINGTON, Appellant,
v.
HUMAN TECHNOLOGIES et al., Respondents.

Workers' Compensation Board, Respondent.

526054

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, New York.

Calendar Date: January 15, 2019
Decided and Entered: March 14, 2019

Michael Washington, Ballston Spa, appellant pro se.

William O'Brien, State Insurance Fund, Albany (Edward Obertubbesing of counsel), for Human Technologies and another, respondents.

Before: Egan Jr., J.P., Lynch, Devine, Rumsey and Pritzker, JJ.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Egan Jr., J.P.

93 N.Y.S.3d 757

On May 19, 2016, claimant, a maintenance worker, was terminated from his employment for falsifying a doctor's note that purportedly excused his absence from work on May 17, 2016. On August 10, 2016, claimant filed an unsigned and undated C–3 form with the Workers' Compensation Board alleging that he sustained work-related injuries on May 8, 2016 while carrying a floor buffer machine from the second floor to the third floor of the building in which he worked. In this same form, claimant reported that he provided notice of the injuries that he sustained, both orally and in writing, to the employer on May 9, 2016. Claimant thereafter filed a second C–3 form, dated September 6, 2016, wherein he changed his initial report to reflect that he had been injured while carrying the subject floor buffer machine from the second floor to the first floor,¹ but maintained that he had provided oral and written notice of his injuries to the employer the very next day. The employer and its workers' compensation carrier controverted the claim, contending, among other things, that claimant did not work on the day of the alleged accident and that he did not provide timely notice of the accident to his former employer. On or about September 28, 2016, claimant filed a third C–3 form for workers' compensation benefits, alleging the same work-related injury but contending that he had only provided the employer with oral notice of his injury. Following hearings, a Workers' Compensation Law Judge disallowed the claim "due to a lack of any credible evidence that the accident occurred and very credible evidence that ... claimant's history as to the occurrence of the accident is incredible." On administrative...