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Board Allows Video Conferencing Testimony

Reviewing Board Allows Video Conferencing of Hearing Testimony in Workers’ Compensation Case

The Reviewing Board of the Department of Industrial Accidents took a great technological leap forward in a decision in which it upheld an Administrative Judge’s allowance of the taking of an employee’s testimony by video conferencing.

The Board, in Leanne Manzanero vs. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, allowed the employee, who had moved to Hawaii following her industrial accident, to testify by video conferencing rather than being forced to return to Massachusetts to testify in person when her case was called to a hearing. This case is an important step forward for employees whose ability to pursue a claim or defend an insurer’s attempt to reduce or terminate workers’ compensation benefits was compromised by the expenses associated with long distance travel. Prior to this case, Administrative Judges followed the decades old practice of requiring witnesses, including injured workers, to appear before them to testify in hearings at the Department of Industrial Accidents. This created an unfair burden on employees who had relocated to other parts of the country due to economic hardships created by a work related injury.

While testimony may now be provided by video conferencing, the burden of proving one’s case has not been changed. Employees continue to bear the responsibility of proving that their disabling injuries arise out of, and in the course of employment. It is important to recognize that this decision has not changed the underlying obligations to prove a compensable case, but merely has reduced the difficulty which an injured worker often had after moving out of state due to the financial hardship caused by a work related injury for which a Massachusetts workers’ compensation insurance company had refused to pay.

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