Board Bulletins and Subject Numbers

October 21, 2008

Video recorded materials become part of the Board's file when a Workers' Compensation Law Judge (WCL Judge) admits such evidence as probative and relevant to an issue raised in a claim for compensation. The two most common examples of video recorded submissions are:

1. evidence of activity in support of a claim that a claimant made a material misrepresentation of fact; and
2. evidence of an independent medical examination.

The Board reviews video recorded evidence in three settings. First, a WCL Judge reviews video recorded materials marked and submitted for consideration as evidence. Second, the Office of General Counsel's Administrative Review Division and the Board Panel of Commissioners may review video recorded evidence as part of an application for review. Third, the Office of General Counsel's Legal Affairs Division and Commissioners comprising the Full Board may review video recorded evidence in conjunction with a case accepted for Full Board Review.

For administrative and judicial convenience and economy, the Board now requires that the submission of video recorded material conform to a standard format. All video recorded submissions marked and played at the hearing must be certified by the submitting party as identical to a formatted DVD–R which is marked and submitted to the Board as evidence. The DVD–R must be formatted as WMV or AVI, so that as part of any subsequent administrative review, Board personnel may play the video recorded evidence on Microsoft's Windows Media Player. The Board will not accept into evidence any other format than WMV or AVI.

If a party fails to submit simultaneously with the video recorded material a conformed and formatted DVD–R capable of being viewed in Window's Media Player, the Board will not accept the video recorded material as part of the record, and the submitting party will be deemed to have waived the right to submit video recorded evidence on the issue raised.

The Board's policy regarding formatted video recorded evidence will take effect on January 1, 2009, and the Board requests that all parties cooperate in presenting this evidence in a format that will enable prompt administrative review.