Bill Text: NY S06074 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Removes labor market attachment requirements for cases of permanent partial disability.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO LABOR [S06074 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-S06074-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6074--A 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN SENATE March 28, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sen. BAILEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the workers' compensation law, in relation to removing labor market attachment requirements for certain disability cases The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The opening paragraph of paragraph w of subdivision 3 of 2 section 15 of the workers' compensation law, as amended by section 1 of 3 subpart A of part NNN of chapter 59 of the laws of 2017, is amended to 4 read as follows: 5 In all other cases of permanent partial disability, the compensation 6 shall be sixty-six and two-thirds percent of the difference between the 7 injured employee's average weekly wages and his or her wage-earning 8 capacity thereafter in the same employment or otherwise. Compensation 9 under this paragraph shall be payable during the continuance of such 10 permanent partial disability, without the necessity for the claimant 11 [who is entitled to benefits at the time of classification] to demon- 12 strate [ongoing] attachment to the labor market, but subject to recon- 13 sideration of the degree of such impairment by the board on its own 14 motion or upon application of any party in interest however, all compen- 15 sation payable under this paragraph shall not exceed (i) five hundred 16 twenty-five weeks in cases in which the loss of wage-earning capacity is 17 greater than ninety-five percent; (ii) five hundred weeks in cases in 18 which the loss of wage-earning capacity is greater than ninety percent 19 but not more than ninety-five percent; (iii) four hundred seventy-five 20 weeks in cases in which the loss of wage-earning capacity is greater 21 than eighty-five percent but not more than ninety percent; (iv) four 22 hundred fifty weeks in cases in which the loss of wage-earning capacity 23 is greater than eighty percent but not more than eighty-five percent; 24 (v) four hundred twenty-five weeks in cases in which the loss of wage- 25 earning capacity is greater than seventy-five percent but not more than 26 eighty percent; (vi) four hundred weeks in cases in which the loss of EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD10381-03-3S. 6074--A 2 1 wage-earning capacity is greater than seventy percent but not more than 2 seventy-five percent; (vii) three hundred seventy-five weeks in cases in 3 which the loss of wage-earning capacity is greater than sixty percent 4 but not more than seventy percent; (viii) three hundred fifty weeks in 5 cases in which the loss of wage-earning capacity is greater than fifty 6 percent but not more than sixty percent; (ix) three hundred weeks in 7 cases in which the loss of wage-earning capacity is greater than forty 8 percent but not more than fifty percent; (x) two hundred seventy-five 9 weeks in cases in which the loss of wage-earning capacity is greater 10 than thirty percent but not more than forty percent; (xi) two hundred 11 fifty weeks in cases in which the loss of wage-earning capacity is 12 greater than fifteen percent but not more than thirty percent; and (xii) 13 two hundred twenty-five weeks in cases in which the loss of wage-earning 14 capacity is fifteen percent or less. For a claimant with a date of acci- 15 dent or disablement after the effective date of the chapter of the laws 16 of two thousand seventeen that amended this subdivision, where the 17 carrier or employer has provided compensation pursuant to subdivision 18 five of this section beyond one hundred thirty weeks from the date of 19 accident or disablement, all subsequent weeks in which compensation was 20 paid shall be considered to be benefit weeks for purposes of this 21 section, with the carrier or employer receiving credit for all such 22 subsequent weeks against the amount of maximum benefit weeks when perma- 23 nent partial disability under this section is determined. In the event 24 of payment for intermittent temporary partial disability paid after one 25 hundred thirty weeks from the date of accident or disablement, such time 26 shall be reduced to a number of weeks, for which the carrier will 27 receive a credit against the maximum benefit weeks. For a claimant with 28 a date of accident or disablement after the effective date of [the] 29 subpart A of part NNN of chapter fifty-nine of the laws of two thousand 30 seventeen [that amended this subdivision], when permanency is at issue, 31 and a claimant has submitted medical evidence that he or she is not at 32 maximum medical improvement, and the carrier has produced or has had a 33 reasonable opportunity to produce an independent medical examination 34 concerning maximum medical improvement, and the board has determined 35 that the claimant is not yet at maximum medical improvement, the carrier 36 shall not receive a credit for benefit weeks prior to a finding that the 37 claimant has reached maximum medical improvement, at which time the 38 carrier shall receive credit for any weeks of temporary disability paid 39 to claimant after such finding against the maximum benefit weeks awarded 40 under this subdivision. For those claimants classified as permanently 41 partially disabled who no longer receive indemnity payments because they 42 have surpassed their number of maximum benefit weeks, the following 43 provisions will apply: 44 § 2. Subdivision 5 of section 15 of the workers' compensation law, as 45 amended by chapter 161 of the laws of 1966, is amended to read as 46 follows: 47 5. Temporary partial disability. In case of temporary partial disabil- 48 ity resulting in decrease of earning capacity, the compensation shall be 49 two-thirds of the difference between the injured employee's average 50 weekly wages before the accident and [his] such injured employee's wage 51 earning capacity after the accident in the same or other employment, and 52 compensation under this subdivision shall be payable without the neces- 53 sity for the injured employee to demonstrate labor market attachment. 54 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
