New York Disability Lawyer & Attorney : Turley, Redmond & Rosasco : Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, Nassau, Suffolk, Bronx, Staten Island

I will be taking a break from the world of workers compensation and disability claims until August 1, 2005. My family and I are taking a learning vacation at Cornell's Adult University. This is a great program if you want to combine relaxation with intellectual stimulation, all in the heart of the Finger Lakes wine country. While Dad and Mom take a course entitled "Meritocracy in America" taught by Prof. Glenn Altschuler, my 6 and 7 year old "explorers" will be studying bugs and ecology with Cornell students. See you soon.

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The Long Island, New York Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society has invited me to speak with their members on Thursday, August 4, 2005 on Social Security and Long Term Disability claims as part of their "Attorney One-on One" program. Located in Hauppauge, Suffolk County, this is a fantastic organization which really provides some much needed services for its members.

Over the past 15 years, I've handled over 60 multiple sclerosis disability claims before Social Security or long term disability insurance carriers, such as UNUMProvident. Although one might think that a diagnosis of a progressive illness like multiple sclerosis was all a claimant needed to win a disability claim, in fact both Social Security and long term disability carriers (including Disability Management Services - DMS) give MS claimants a particularly hard time in approving claims. However, I have found that by educating the claimant's treating neurologist about the legal standard for disability, we can win these claims in almost 100% of the cases. Winning the disability claim often reduces the claimant's stress, which then results in less serious exacerbations. I look forward to sharing some helpful tips with the membership.

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New York State Insurance Superintendent Howard Mills threw a bone to workers compensation insurance carriers in New York State by granting them a 5% rate increase last week. The workers compensation carriers are lucky they got any increase in the wake of the AIG scandal. An excellent analysis can be found at the Workers Comp Insider blog (which is a must read for anyone involved in the workers compensation claim industry).

Does this mean they will now give workers compensation claimants the benefit increase they deserve? Fat chance! The smart bet is that injured workers will not see a benefit increase until Governor Pataki finds greener pastures in Iowa. By that time, New York's maximum workers compensation rate should be dead last in the nation! A proud day in New York labor history...

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High Costs, Low Benefits: Why New York State has the Worst Workers Compensation in the Nation" is the front page story in the July 14, 2005 edition of the Long Island Press. Accompanying the headline is a picture of an injured worker missing a leg. This is a timely and powerful article, and should be read by anyone who wants to know the inside scoop on how workers compensation insurance companies take advantage of BOTH workers and employers in New York State. One telling fact is the disclosure that workers compensation insurance companies in New York had a profit margin of almost 10% in 2003, and they now have the audacity to request a 16.1% premium increase this year. Bottom Line - its the workers compensation insurance companies who are killing employers and business in New York State.

This article comes on the heals of a heart breaking, yet inspiring, story in Newsday this week about a worker who had both hands amputated by a factory machine, only to have them reattached by some great surgeons at Stony Brook University Hospital. This father of 8 is now struggling to regain the use of his hands while trying to survive on meager New York State workers compensation payments, which have not been raised in 13 years. His caring employer stopped his health insurance for his 8 kids! It really puts a human face on major societal problem - treating injured workers like just another widget.

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Unlike some of you, I got a thoughtful letter recently from Congressman Peter King (R - Seaford) on the Social Security Disability program. I had written him on behalf of all my disability clients who were scared that they might lose their social security benefits as part of the President's privatization reform. Congressman King wrote that:

"the White House has made clear that any reform legislation would fully protect and maintain disability benefits."

"will work to ensure that full disability payments are continued."

King, who boxes for fun and fitness, has been taking some glancing blows recently in Newsday over various letters he has written to constituents. Now I'm a longtime fan of Peter King, especially when he bucked his own Party and rightly supported Senator John McCain over then Governor Bush for President in 2000.
But even I had a problem with the tone of his letters. We've come to expect and admire straight talk from Pete King - he doesn't feed his constituents the pablum we so often hear from members of Congress. But the letters printed in Newsday did seem beneath him.

People have an absolute right to be scared of the President's privatization plan for Social Security Disability. It does not address the Social Security solvency problem, while placing additional risk on young Americans. Those under age 55 can plan on paying higher taxes to receive smaller guaranteed benefits. So much for security, unless your the King!

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OK, what would a legal blog be without our two cents about Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s retirement? What will it mean for New York Social Security disability claimants? Probably a big whopping nothing! Other than her concurring opinion in Sims v Apfel, O’Connor will leave an inconsequential mark on Social Security disability jurisprudence.

However, for the larger disability rights community, Justice O’Connor has left a significant positive impact. In the 2004 case of Tennessee v Lane, she sided with paraplegics (bucking Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas) by upholding the Americans with Disabilities Act and requiring state courts to be accessible to the disabled. In the 2002 death penalty case of Atkins v Virginia, she stood with the majority (again bucking the conservatives) and overruled her own previous 1989 opinion in Penry v Lynaugh, holding that it is "cruel and unusual punishment" to execute the mentally retarded. Bottom Line – I think O’Connor was a conservative with compassion toward the disabled, and will be missed by the disability rights community at-large.

Now, the $64,000 question turns to her replacement. My bet is that President Bush picks his old pal, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. If the evangelicals don’t burn him at the stake first, I think my fellow Air Force Academy Falcon would be a fine appointment and easily confirmed by the Senate. If the President wants to move his domestic issues forward in Congress while making history appointing the first Hispanic to the Court, Gonzalez would be a wise choice. His administration has made many of them to date...

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In a significant win for the rescue and recovery heroes of 9/11 and New York's municipal unions, last week Gov. George Pataki finally signed the 75% disability pension bill for workers who become ill as a result of working at Ground Zero. Municipal employees, mostly police and firemen, who worked more than 40 hours at Ground Zero and develop cancer or other diseases are now presumed to have gotten these illnesses from the 9/11 clean up, unless the employer can prove otherwise.

I have a 36 year old friend who is a New York City fireman (New York's Bravest) and worked at Ground Zero for over three months looking for the remains of his brother, a fellow fireman. He now has multiple granulomas on his lungs, which could be a precursor to lung cancer. The New York City Fire Department won't let him return to active duty. This new disability pension law will help protect his family in the future. Give credit to the Governor for doing the right thing for the heroes of 9/11. Now, how about a workers' compensation benefit increase, George? Its only been 13 years!

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