Claimant, a safety and security officer for the employer, filed an accident report alleging that, while on patrol in June 2013, he was bitten by two ticks. Almost six years later, claimant filed a claim for workers' compensation benefits seeking to recover for injuries allegedly sustained as the result of unknown tick bacteria entering his bloodstream.
The Workers' Compensation Board reversed, finding that the underlying claim was untimely and, in any event, that there was insufficient medical evidence to establish that claimant suffered from Lyme disease in the first instance or that such disease was causally related to his employment. The claimant appealed the Board's determination.
The Appellate Division affirmed the Board's decision, explaining that "Consistent with the provisions of Workers' Compensation Law §28, "a claim for workers' compensation benefits is untimely unless it is filed within two years of the date of the accident" at issue (Matter of Bennett v Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Ctr., 134 AD3d 1361, 1361 [2015]; see Matter of Jones v Servisair LLC, 180 AD3d 1313, 1314 [2020]). "Whether a claim has been filed in a timely manner presents a factual issue for the Board to resolve, and such determination, if supported by substantial evidence in the record as a whole, will not be disturbed" (Matter of Kasic v Bethlehem Steel Corp., 94 AD3d 1349.
The full text of the Appellate Division's decision is posted on the Internet at: https://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2021/2021_04404.htm