S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    191
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 8, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by M. of A. CRUZ, COLTON, GIBBS, BURDICK, EPSTEIN, ZINERMAN,
   ZACCARO, SEAWRIGHT, TAPIA, SIMONE, CUNNINGHAM, ANDERSON, CLARK,  DAVI-
   LA, REYES, SIMON -- read once and referred 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] SUCH EMPLOYEE'S
 wage-earning capacity thereafter in the same  employment  or  otherwise.
 Compensation  under  this  paragraph shall be payable during the contin-
 uance of such permanent partial disability, without  the  necessity  for
 the claimant [who is entitled to benefits at the time of classification]
 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 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.
                                                            LBD01174-01-5
 A. 191                              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] SUCH
 CLAIMANT 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.