Senate Bill S4973

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4973
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 14, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens.  BAILEY,  COMRIE,  HOYLMAN-SIGAL -- 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] 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-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD01174-01-5
              

 S. 4973                             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]  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.