New York: Inconsistent, Contradictory Testimony Leads to Decision Finding No Attachment to Labor Market

Substantial evidence supported the Workers’ Compensation Board’s finding that the claimant was not attached to the labor market because the claimant’s testimony regarding his search for employment was inconsistent, contradictory, and not credible. Moreover, the claimant did not present any documentation reflecting his attempts to seek work while he was in Puerto Rico. The appellate court also held substantial evidence supported the Board’s determination that the claimant sustained a 40 percent loss of wage-earning capacity under N.Y. Work. Comp. Law, § 15(3)(w), because the Board considered, inter alia, the claimant’s age, work history, educational status, proficiency in the English language, and ability to be retrained. Evidence indicated that although the claimant was incapable of continuing his employment as a laborer, he was capable of medium work within certain limitations, including not lifting items more than 35 pounds.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is the co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Matter of Villalobos v RNC Indus. LLC, 2017 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4270 (June 1, 2017)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 84.04.

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