Chairman of the New York Workers' Compensation Board resigns

Friday, 12 June 2009

In news that concerns all New York workers' compensation lawyers, the chairman of the New York Workers' Compensation Board, Zachary S. Weiss, resigned today after serving only two years of his six-year term.

City Room reports Mr. Weiss, whom Governor Eliot Spitzer appointed in 2007, is leaving his post at the Workers' Compensation Board to become an administrative law judge in the Social Security Administration, a lifetime appointment.

As we have discussed before, Mr. Weiss inherited a Workers' Compensation Board with more than its share of problems. Governor Spitzer appointed Mr. Weiss soon after the passage of a law that trimmed the system's costs and boosted claimants' payments. Unfortunately, as just about any claimant, workers' compensation doctor or workers' compensation lawyer in New York can tell you, it was one of the only positive reforms the Board saw under Mr. Weiss's tenure.

Though he often spoke about the deficiencies and shortcomings of the workers' compensation system, Mr. Weiss insisted that change must come slowly, in increments. Meanwhile, New York is stuck with a system that serves no one particularly well - claimants, doctors and employers all have serious complaints about the Workers' Compensation Board.

Mr. Weiss cannot be blamed for all the Workers' Compensation Board's woes. Even a proactive chairman couldn't have fixed the deep-seated problems the Board faces in just two years. Yet many workers' compensation lawyers in New York would have appreciated some swift action from Mr. Weiss to address at least a few of these problems.

In any case, we wish Mr. Weiss success in his new position with the Social Security Administration. We hope Governor David Paterson appoints a proactive, fair chairman with a real drive to reform the system. Only then will the Workers' Compensation Board truly fulfill its mission: helping injured workers.

[ City Room ]