Bill Text: NY A08408 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Enacts the "Joseph Fletcher act"; permits certain claims by essential employees for compensation based on death due to COVID-19 which were previously denied or not timely filed.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Republican 14-1)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-04-05 - enacting clause stricken [A08408 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A08408-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         8408--A

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    December 13, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of  A. DURSO, GRAY, TAGUE, E. BROWN, CHANG, BENDETT,
          ANGELINO, BEEPHAN, JENSEN,  McDONOUGH,  DeSTEFANO  --  read  once  and
          referred  to the Committee on Labor -- recommitted to the Committee on
          Labor in  accordance  with  Assembly  Rule  3,  sec.  2  --  committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to said committee

        AN  ACT  to  amend the workers' compensation law, in relation to certain
          claims for death benefits based on death due to COVID-19 in memory  of
          Joseph  Fletcher; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon
          the expiration thereof

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Short  title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
     2  the "Joseph Fletcher act".
     3    § 2. The workers' compensation law is amended by adding a new  section
     4  3-a to read as follows:
     5    § 3-a. Reopening of claims for COVID-19 death benefits. 1. A claim for
     6  death  benefits  based on a diagnosis of COVID-19 resulting in the death
     7  of the essential employee whose exposure was sustained in service as  an
     8  essential worker as defined by executive order 202 issued March seventh,
     9  two  thousand  twenty and expired June twenty-fourth, two thousand twen-
    10  ty-one shall not be disallowed as barred by section eighteen or  section
    11  twenty-eight  of  this chapter if such claim is filed within one year of
    12  the effective date of this section. Any subsequent claims may  be  filed
    13  after  such period in accordance with sections eighteen and twenty-eight
    14  of this chapter.
    15    2. The board shall permit the filing of claims for death benefits  due
    16  to  COVID-19  which  were  previously  denied due to section eighteen or
    17  twenty-eight of this  chapter  prior  to  the  effective  date  of  this
    18  section, and shall, upon application, re-hear and determine such claims.
    19    §  3.  This  act shall take effect immediately and shall expire and be
    20  deemed repealed two years after such date.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD11758-05-4