Bellevue Worker Waits Two Years on Claim

Wednesday, July 10, 2019 | 0

A worker at New York City's famed Bellevue Hospital is finally seeing some relief, two years after he said he was assaulted by a coworker and injured his back — a case involving bungled evidence that required the claim to be reopened earlier this year.

Keith Mayo, a supply warehouse supervisor who has worked at Bellevue for more than 25 years, said he was attacked by another worker frustrated by a lack of supplies after the city privatized the mental hospital's supply vendor, according to a news report.

That happened in June 2017. A year later, a workers' compensation judge denied Mayo's claim, based on video of the incident. The problem, Mayo said, was that the video segment was of the warehouse several minutes after the assault, which was witnessed by about 10 employees.

In February of this year, after reviewing more complete evidence, the city reversed itself and asked the state Workers' Compensation Board to reopen the case. The board agreed.

Mayo says the case is far from over, and that he's owed about four months of benefits for his back injury and for the post-traumatic stress disorder he's endured since the assault.