What Clients Say

"The team couldn't have served me better because they were perfect in every way."
"There is no way any other law firm would treat a client, like they treated me. I am forever grateful to them and would highly recommend them. You won't regret it."
" I cannot say enough about Scott and the excellent job he did. It was a pleasure doing business with Scott and your firm."
"I appreciated that I was never made to feel like a bother to anyone. They are very professional."
"Great experience!, knowing that I was being guided and assured by a highly loyal, dedicated professional firm such as Markhoff & Mittman."

view all

Library

New York State Workers’ Compensation

Sanitation Workers Doing Dangerous Jobs

view all

FAQs

New York State Workers’ Compensation

Are workers compensation hearings in New York open to the public?

view all

Best Source of Up-to-Date news on workers' compensation and disability in New York

New Workers’ Comp Board Executive Director Selected

Posted on Jan 28, 2010

New York Governor David A. Paterson has made a controversial selection for one of the new Workers’ Compensation Board positions. Paterson recently named Jeffrey R. Fenster as the board’s new executive director, a position that has been vacant since last October when Joseph Pennisi resigned to become the Senate finance secretary.

The choice of Fenster is controversial because critics contend that he has no management or workers’ compensation experience at all, and is only 29 years old, having graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 2006. As the executive director of the board, Fenster is in charge of the board’s daily operations and will be paid $141,730 (a significant pay cut from his previous job, according to Fenster).

The New York Workers’ Compensation Board has a tough job. With a budget of $210 million, they must make decisions about compensation for injured workers across the state while at the same time trying to ensure that employers and insurance companies are not defrauded.

Fenster will apparently begin his new job with limited responsibilities, as the board provided him with a list of 10 duties that were assigned by the chairman. The duties – ranging from various committee memberships to deciding appeals – are narrower than those enjoyed by his predecessors.

The limits on Fenster’s job duties are seen as a sign by some that the chairman of the board, Robert E. Beloten, does not agree with the decision to hire Fenster as executive director.