S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8344
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 19, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  RAMOS  -- 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  providing
   the  carrier or employer a credit against permanent partial disability
   benefits for temporary partial disability payments made in  excess  of
   130 weeks

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. 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:
   w. Other cases. 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 other-
 wise.    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 classifica-
 tion to demonstrate ongoing attachment to the labor market, but  subject
 to  reconsideration of the degree of such impairment by the board on its
 own motion or upon application of any party  in  interest  however,  all
 compensation  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 seven-
 ty-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  wage-earning  capacity is greater than seventy percent but not
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD13517-01-3
 S. 8344                             2
 
 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 accident or disablement after the effective date of the
 chapter of the  laws  of  two  thousand  [seventeen]  TWENTY-THREE  that
 amended  this  subdivision, where the carrier or employer has [provided]
 PAID ONE HUNDRED THIRTY WEEKS OF 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 SOLELY PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION FIVE shall be considered to be bene-
 fit 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  permanent  partial  disability  under  this
 section  is  determined. In the event of payment for intermittent tempo-
 rary 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  maxi-
 mum benefit weeks. For a claimant with a date of accident or disablement
 after  the  effective  date  of  the chapter of the laws of two thousand
 [seventeen] TWENTY-THREE 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 bene-
 fit weeks awarded under this subdivision]. For those  claimants  classi-
 fied  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:
   (1)  There  will be a presumption that medical services shall continue
 notwithstanding the completion of the time period for  compensation  set
 forth  in this section and the burden of going forward and the burden of
 proof will lie with the carrier, self-insured employer or  state  insur-
 ance  fund in any application before the board to discontinue or suspend
 such services. Medical services will continue during the pendency of any
 such application and any appeals thereto.
   (2) The board is directed to promulgate regulations that establish  an
 independent  review  and  appeal  by  an  outside agent or entity of the
 board's choosing of any  administrative  law  judge's  determination  to
 discontinue  or suspend medical services before a final determination of
 the board.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.