New York: Claimant Was Not Due Full Day’s Disability Pay for Weekly Half-Hour Appointment with Psychologist

A New York court has held a worker who had established a compensable claim for an adjustment disorder with mixed depressed mood and anxiety and chronic emotional stress was nevertheless not entitled to payment for intermittent lost time for certain time off that had been charged as sick leave where it appeared that that claimant was working full time Monday through Thursday, that she had a weekly appointment with her psychologist, related to her established claim, every Friday from 2:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., and that despite this half-hour afternoon appointment, claimant was taking the whole day off every Friday. Claimant's psychologist testified that there was no psychological reason for claimant to take the entire day off and that her disorder would not prevent her from functioning at the same level on a Friday as she would on the other days of the week. He further testified that he could schedule claimant's appointments later in the afternoon.  The court indicated substantial evidence supported the Board's determination that claimant took every Friday entirely off from work based upon convenience and not due to her inability to work because of her disability.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is a leading commentator and expert on the law of workers’ compensation.

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See Schwartz v. State Ins. Fund, 2014 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5956 (Sept. 4, 2014) [2014 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5956 (Sept. 4, 2014)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 94.02 [94.02]

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.

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