New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 12 - DEPARTMENT OF LABOR › Chapter V - Workers' Compensation › Subchapter A - General Provisions › Part 300 - Procedure before the Board › Section 300.32 - Designation of a legally responsible person for a minor claimant

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
(a) A person
				  legally responsible for a minor claimant means a natural or adoptive parent,
				  stepparent or other relative who has custody of the claimant, or a
				  court-appointed guardian.
(b) The
				  Workers' Compensation Law judge, in any workers' compensation case in which an
				  award of compensation made on or after January 1, 1989 is payable in whole or
				  in part to a minor claimant, may, upon request of a person legally responsible
				  for such claimant, designate such legally responsible person as payee to
				  receive payments for the benefit of the minor claimant. Such designation shall
				  be made at the same time the award is made.
(c) Notwithstanding a request by a person
				  legally responsible for a minor claimant to be designated as payee to receive
				  payments of compensation for the benefit of the minor claimant, the Workers'
				  Compensation Law judge, when making an award to the minor claimant, may refuse
				  to designate such legally responsible person as payee and may instead direct
				  that payment of the award be made directly to the minor claimant. In making a
				  determination whether to direct payment to the minor claimant, the Workers'
				  Compensation Law judge may consider the ability of the minor claimant to manage
				  the benefit payments in his or her own interest.
(d) A legally responsible person duly
				  designated by a Workers' Compensation Law judge as a payee to receive payments
				  for the benefit of such minor claimant has a responsibility to:
(1) use such payments solely for the benefit
				  of the minor claimant in a manner he or she determines to be in the best
				  interest of the claimant;
(2)
				  notify the board of any event that will affect the amount of payments the minor
				  claimant receives or the right of the minor claimant to receive
				  payments;
(3) notify the board of
				  any change in his or her circumstances that would affect the performance of his
				  or her responsibilities as payee;
(4) submit to the chair, annually, or more
				  often if required by the chair, a written report accounting for the payments
				  received. Such report shall show:
(i) the
				  amount of benefit payments on hand at the beginning of the accounting
				  period;
(ii) the amount of benefit
				  payments received during the accounting period;
(iii) how the benefit payments were
				  used;
(iv) the balance on hand at
				  the end of the accounting period;
(v) where the minor claimant lived during the
				  accounting period.
A report made pursuant to this section shall be on a form
					 prescribed by the chair, except that a guardian of the property of a minor
					 appointed by a court of competent jurisdiction, if required to file an annual
					 accounting report to such court, shall be deemed to comply with the
					 requirements of this section by filing a copy of such report with the
					 board.