NY State Senate Bill 2023-S6074A

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Labor Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 03, 2024	referred to labor
Apr 10, 2023	print number 6074a
Apr 10, 2023	amend and recommit to labor
Mar 28, 2023	referred to labor

Bill Amendments

Original

A (Active)

2023-S6074 - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A6192
Current Committee:: Senate Labor
Law Section:: Workers' Compensation Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §15, Work Comp L

2023-S6074 - Summary

Removes labor market attachment requirements for cases of permanent partial disability.

2023-S6074 - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S6074

SPONSOR: BAILEY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the workers' compensation law, in relation to removing
labor market attachment requirements for certain disability cases

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA:

The purpose of this bill is to eliminate the need to show a Labor Market
Attachment (LMA) to receive Workers' Compensation and remove the suspen-
sion of benefits as consequence for an inability to meet LMA.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section one of the bill amends the opening paragraph of paragraph W of
subdivision 3 of section 15 of the workers' compensation law to elimi-
nate the necessity to demonstrate an attachment to the labor market to
receive labor compensation for injured employees. This section also
removes the suspension of benefits due to the inability to meet LMA
requirements. Section two of the bill sets the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Labor market attachment (LMA) is a requirement in the workers' compen-
sation system for temporarily, partially disabled workers to demonstrate
they are seeking employment they can perform while disabled. The Work-
ers' Compensation Law itself does not require injured workers to look
for work while receiving indemnity benefits or payments for lost time.
However, due to case law, workers must demonstrate labor market attach-
ment or their lost time payments can be suspended.

LMA is routinely raised as a cost-savings measure by all workers'
compensation insurers to stop paying wage replacement benefits in work-
ers confirmed to have a work-related disability of some degree.  In
addition, there is no acknowledgment that workers face increased diffi-
culty reattaching to the labor market after a work-related injury, espe-
cially while still recovering and in need of ongoing medical treatment
and sometimes surgery. In addition, the requirement to demonstrate an
attachment to the labor market is a difficult burden for older employees
with limited vocational skills and education as well as for workers who
are undocumented. While immigration status is not a factor to obtaining
workers compensation benefits, it is a factor to keeping them. For exam-
ple, undocumented workers, who may only have experience with physical
labor, have great difficulty finding sedentary work when they have
limited language skills, relevant work experience or legal work authori-
zation.

Lastly, while the Board has vocational rehabilitation services available
to workers, we rely on existing state workforce resources provided by
the Department of Labor or State Education Department which fall short
of addressing the needs of disabled workers who are unable to return to
their previous work due to their medical impairments. They depend on
their wage replacement benefits to make ends meet, and by definition,
these benefits are lower than their pre-injury wages. A worker's failure
to engage in the entirely subjective "timely, diligent and persistent"
or "active" efforts to remain attached to the labor market when this is

raised by an insurer is financially detrimental.  The most vulnerable
workers inevitably suffer the most here.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATION FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

TBD.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2023-S6074 - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   6074
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              March 28, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  BAILEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor
 
 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-
 earning  capacity is greater than seventy-five percent but not more than
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD10381-01-3

 S. 6074                             2
 
 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 chap-
 ter 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. This act shall take effect immediately.

co-Sponsors

2023-S6074A (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A6192
Current Committee:: Senate Labor
Law Section:: Workers' Compensation Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §15, Work Comp L

2023-S6074A (ACTIVE) - Summary

Removes labor market attachment requirements for cases of permanent partial disability.

2023-S6074A (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S6074A

SPONSOR: BAILEY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the workers' compensation law, in relation to removing
labor market attachment requirements for certain disability cases

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA:

The purpose of this bill is to eliminate the need to show a Labor Market
Attachment ("LMA") to receive Workers' Compensation and remove the
suspension of benefits as consequence for an inability to meet LMA.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section one of the bill amends the opening paragraph of paragraph W of
subdivision 3 of section 15 of the workers' compensation law to elimi-
nate the necessity to demonstrate an attachment to the labor market to
receive labor compensation for injured employees. This section also
removes the suspension of benefits due to the inability to meet LMA
requirements.

Section two of the bill further amends the appropriate section of the
workers' compensation law to state that in cases of temporary partial
disability, compensation under this subdivision shall be payable without
the necessity for the injured employee to demonstrate LMA.

Section three of the bill sets forth the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Labor market attachment (LMA) is a requirement in the workers' compen-
sation system for temporarily, partially disabled workers to demonstrate
they are seeking employment they can perform while disabled. The Work-
ers' Compensation Law itself does not require injured workers to look
for work while receiving indemnity benefits, or payments for lost time.
However, due to case law, workers must demonstrate labor market attach-
ment or their lost time payments can be suspended.

LMA is routinely raised as a cost-savings measure by all workers'
compensation insurers to stop paying wage replacement benefits in work-
ers confirmed to have a work-related disability of some degree.  In
addition, there is no acknowledgment that workers face increased diffi-
culty reattaching to the labor market after a work-related injury, espe-
cially while still recovering and in need of ongoing medical treatment
and sometimes surgery. Moreover, the requirement to demonstrate an
attachment to the labor market is a difficult burden for older employees
with limited vocational skills and education, as well as for workers who
are undocumented. While immigration status is not a factor in obtaining
workers compensation benefits, it is a factor in keeping them. For exam-
ple, undocumented workers, who may only have experience with physical
labor, have great difficulty finding sedentary work when they have
limited language skills, relevant work experience or legal work authori-
zation.

Lastly, while the Board has vocational rehabilitation services available
to workers, we rely on existing state workforce resources provided by
the Department of Labor or State Education Department which fall short
of addressing the needs of disabled workers who are unable to return to
their previous work due to their medical impairments. They depend on
their wage replacement benefits to make ends meet, and by definition,
these benefits are lower than their pre-injury wages. A worker's failure
to engage in the entirely subjective "timely, diligent and persistent"
or "active" efforts to remain attached to the labor market when this is
raised by an insurer is financially detrimental. The most vulnerable
workers inevitably suffer more.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATION FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This bill shall take effect immediately.

2023-S6074A (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  6074--A
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              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:
 
   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-
 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

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD10381-03-3
 S. 6074--A                          2
 
 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.

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Senate Bill S6074A

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Labor Committee

Bill Amendments

2023-S6074 - Details

2023-S6074 - Summary

2023-S6074 - Sponsor Memo

2023-S6074 - Bill Text download pdf

co-Sponsors

2023-S6074A (ACTIVE) - Details

2023-S6074A (ACTIVE) - Summary

2023-S6074A (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2023-S6074A (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

Senate Bill S6074A

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Jamaal T. Bailey

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Labor Committee

Bill Amendments

2023-S6074 - Details

2023-S6074 - Summary

2023-S6074 - Sponsor Memo

2023-S6074 - Bill Text download pdf

co-Sponsors

Leroy Comrie

Brad Hoylman-Sigal

2023-S6074A (ACTIVE) - Details

2023-S6074A (ACTIVE) - Summary

2023-S6074A (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2023-S6074A (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments