S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
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                                  6192--A
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                               April 3, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M. of A. CRUZ -- read once and referred 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:
 
   Section  1.  The  opening paragraph of paragraph w of subdivision 3 of
 section 15 of the workers' compensation law, as amended by section 1  of
 subpart  A  of part NNN of chapter 59 of the laws of 2017, is amended to
 read as follows:
   In all other cases of permanent partial disability,  the  compensation
 shall  be sixty-six and two-thirds percent of the difference between the
 injured employee's average weekly wages  and  his  or  her  wage-earning
 capacity  thereafter  in the same employment or otherwise.  Compensation
 under this paragraph shall be payable during  the  continuance  of  such
 permanent  partial  disability,  without  the necessity for the claimant
 [who is entitled to benefits at the time of  classification]  to  demon-
 strate  [ongoing]  attachment to the labor market, but subject to recon-
 sideration of the degree of such impairment by  the  board  on  its  own
 motion or upon application of any party in interest however, all compen-
 sation  payable  under  this paragraph shall not exceed (i) five hundred
 twenty-five weeks in cases in which the loss of wage-earning capacity is
 greater than ninety-five percent; (ii) five hundred weeks  in  cases  in
 which  the  loss of wage-earning capacity is greater than ninety percent
 but not more than ninety-five percent; (iii) four  hundred  seventy-five
 weeks  in  cases  in  which the loss of wage-earning capacity is greater
 than eighty-five percent but not more than  ninety  percent;  (iv)  four
 hundred  fifty weeks in cases in which the loss of wage-earning capacity
 is greater than eighty percent but not more  than  eighty-five  percent;
 (v)  four  hundred twenty-five weeks in cases in which the loss of wage-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD10381-02-3
              

 A. 6192--A                          2
 
 earning capacity is greater than seventy-five percent but not more  than
 eighty  percent;  (vi)  four hundred weeks in cases in which the loss of
 wage-earning capacity is greater than seventy percent but not more  than
 seventy-five percent; (vii) three hundred seventy-five weeks in cases in
 which  the  loss  of wage-earning capacity is greater than sixty percent
 but not more than seventy percent; (viii) three hundred fifty  weeks  in
 cases  in  which the loss of wage-earning capacity is greater than fifty
 percent but not more than sixty percent; (ix)  three  hundred  weeks  in
 cases  in  which the loss of wage-earning capacity is greater than forty
 percent but not more than fifty percent; (x)  two  hundred  seventy-five
 weeks  in  cases  in  which the loss of wage-earning capacity is greater
 than thirty percent but not more than forty percent;  (xi)  two  hundred
 fifty  weeks  in  cases  in  which  the loss of wage-earning capacity is
 greater than fifteen percent but not more than thirty percent; and (xii)
 two hundred twenty-five weeks in cases in which the loss of wage-earning
 capacity is fifteen percent or less. For a claimant with a date of acci-
 dent or disablement after the effective date of the chapter of the  laws
 of  two  thousand  seventeen  that  amended  this subdivision, where the
 carrier or employer has provided compensation  pursuant  to  subdivision
 five  of  this  section beyond one hundred thirty weeks from the date of
 accident or disablement, all subsequent weeks in which compensation  was
 paid  shall  be  considered  to  be  benefit  weeks for purposes of this
 section, with the carrier or employer  receiving  credit  for  all  such
 subsequent weeks against the amount of maximum benefit weeks when perma-
 nent  partial  disability under this section is determined. In the event
 of payment for intermittent temporary partial disability paid after  one
 hundred thirty weeks from the date of accident or disablement, such time
 shall  be  reduced  to  a  number  of  weeks, for which the carrier will
 receive a credit against the maximum benefit weeks. For a claimant  with
 a  date  of  accident  or  disablement after the effective date of [the]
 SUBPART A OF PART NNN OF chapter FIFTY-NINE of the laws of two  thousand
 seventeen  [that amended this subdivision], when permanency is at issue,
 and a claimant has submitted medical evidence that he or she is  not  at
 maximum  medical  improvement, and the carrier has produced or has had a
 reasonable opportunity to produce  an  independent  medical  examination
 concerning  maximum  medical  improvement,  and the board has determined
 that the claimant is not yet at maximum medical improvement, the carrier
 shall not receive a credit for benefit weeks prior to a finding that the
 claimant has reached maximum medical  improvement,  at  which  time  the
 carrier  shall receive credit for any weeks of temporary disability paid
 to claimant after such finding against the maximum benefit weeks awarded
 under this subdivision. For those claimants  classified  as  permanently
 partially disabled who no longer receive indemnity payments because they
 have  surpassed  their  number  of  maximum benefit weeks, the following
 provisions will apply:
   § 2. Subdivision 5 of section 15 of the workers' compensation law,  as
 amended  by  chapter  161  of  the  laws  of 1966, is amended to read as
 follows:
   5. Temporary partial disability. In case of temporary partial disabil-
 ity resulting in decrease of earning capacity, the compensation shall be
 two-thirds of the difference  between  the  injured  employee's  average
 weekly  wages before the accident and [his] SUCH INJURED EMPLOYEE'S wage
 earning capacity after the accident in the same or other employment, AND
 COMPENSATION UNDER THIS SUBDIVISION SHALL BE PAYABLE WITHOUT THE  NECES-
 SITY FOR THE INJURED EMPLOYEE TO DEMONSTRATE LABOR MARKET ATTACHMENT.
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.