Is it possible for me to get my WC case reopened because the state says I am totally disabled?

Dear Madam or Sir in Washington County: It sounds as if you were classified with a Permanent Partial Disability with continuing payments some years ago. Case law has changed and since you are adjudicated to have a partial DISability, it means that you have a partial Abillity to work. It appears you weren't advised before you testified or that you ignored advice. However, you can get your payments reinstated. Get the C-258 form from the WCB web site and visit your local NY Dept. of Labor WORK FORCE or ONE STOP offices at least once per week, recording those visits on the form with a brief note about what you did there. Also, you must make 4-5 work search efforts every day. It may be annoying but you have to. Use the classified ads in the paper, job listings on line on such sites as Monster.com, etc. On the C-258 form, you enter each effort and indicate with a letter code if you visited an Employer in person, by mail, by phone or on line. After 2-3 months, write to reopen your case and say you are REATTACHED to the LABOR MARKET and attach the C-258 forms. Continue to make work search efforts while you wait for a hearing. The law does not require you to find a job, it requires you to look for a job. Do not apply for jobs that make you look silly. You wouldn't want to tell a Judge you applied to be an Air Traffic Controller, a High Steel Construction worker, a peson who carries 65 lb concrete blocks, etc. Apply for jobs within your PHYSICAL RESTRICTIONS. If your doctor says you are restrcited to sedentary jobs, then apply for desk jobs. When you are interviewed by an employer, you are allowed to tell them the truth about your accident and physical restrictions, etc. I know you say your doctor says you are totally disabled, but it really sounds as if you were classified with a Permanent Partial not with a Permanent Total disability. That is the law of the case. Your applications for SSDB or SSDI have no relevance to your WC claim at all. Do what was suggested here. Good Luck Leonard Feld