Claim of Rondon v. Manhattan & Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority
Claimant, a bus driver, was injured in 2007 and subsequently received workers' compensation benefits for an eight-month period. The self-insured employer challenged these benefits under Workers' Compensation Law § 114-a, alleging the claimant worked during the disqualification period and attempted to introduce video evidence. The Workers' Compensation Law Judge (WCLJ) refused to admit the video due to lack of authentication by the investigator who filmed it, eventually closing the record when the employer failed to produce all necessary investigators. While the Workers' Compensation Board ruled that the investigator's testimony wasn't strictly necessary for authentication, it upheld the WCLJ's closure of the record because the employer hadn't appealed the initial authentication ruling and failed to present all investigators. Consequently, the Board remitted the case for a determination on claimant's disqualification, a decision which the employer appealed, but the appellate court dismissed the appeal as an interlocutory order that did not resolve all substantive issues.