Bill Text: NY S08344 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Provides the carrier or employer a credit against permanent partial disability benefits for temporary partial disability payments made in excess of 130 weeks.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-05-16 - referred to labor [S08344 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S08344-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          8344

                    IN SENATE

                                    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:

     1    Section 1. Paragraph w of subdivision 3 of section 15 of the  workers'
     2  compensation  law,  as  amended by section 1 of subpart A of part NNN of
     3  chapter 59 of the laws of 2017, is amended to read as follows:
     4    w. Other cases. In all other cases of  permanent  partial  disability,
     5  the  compensation  shall  be  sixty-six  and  two-thirds  percent of the
     6  difference between the injured employee's average weekly wages  and  his
     7  or her wage-earning capacity thereafter in the same employment or other-
     8  wise.    Compensation  under  this paragraph shall be payable during the
     9  continuance of such permanent partial disability, without the  necessity
    10  for  the claimant who is entitled to benefits at the time of classifica-
    11  tion to demonstrate ongoing attachment to the labor market, but  subject
    12  to  reconsideration of the degree of such impairment by the board on its
    13  own motion or upon application of any party  in  interest  however,  all
    14  compensation  payable  under  this  paragraph  shall not exceed (i) five
    15  hundred twenty-five weeks in cases in which  the  loss  of  wage-earning
    16  capacity is greater than ninety-five percent; (ii) five hundred weeks in
    17  cases  in which the loss of wage-earning capacity is greater than ninety
    18  percent but not more than ninety-five percent; (iii) four hundred seven-
    19  ty-five weeks in cases in which the loss  of  wage-earning  capacity  is
    20  greater  than eighty-five percent but not more than ninety percent; (iv)
    21  four hundred fifty weeks in cases in  which  the  loss  of  wage-earning
    22  capacity  is  greater  than eighty percent but not more than eighty-five
    23  percent; (v) four hundred twenty-five weeks in cases in which  the  loss
    24  of  wage-earning  capacity  is greater than seventy-five percent but not
    25  more than eighty percent; (vi) four hundred weeks in cases in which  the
    26  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

     1  more than seventy-five percent; (vii) three hundred  seventy-five  weeks
     2  in  cases  in  which  the  loss of wage-earning capacity is greater than
     3  sixty percent but not more than seventy percent;  (viii)  three  hundred
     4  fifty  weeks  in  cases  in  which  the loss of wage-earning capacity is
     5  greater than fifty percent but not more than sixty percent;  (ix)  three
     6  hundred  weeks  in  cases  in which the loss of wage-earning capacity is
     7  greater than forty percent but not more  than  fifty  percent;  (x)  two
     8  hundred  seventy-five  weeks  in cases in which the loss of wage-earning
     9  capacity is greater than thirty percent but not more than forty percent;
    10  (xi) two hundred fifty weeks in cases in which the loss of  wage-earning
    11  capacity  is  greater  than  fifteen  percent  but  not more than thirty
    12  percent; and (xii) two hundred twenty-five weeks in cases in  which  the
    13  loss of wage-earning capacity is fifteen percent or less. For a claimant
    14  with  a  date of accident or disablement after the effective date of the
    15  chapter of the  laws  of  two  thousand  [seventeen]  twenty-three  that
    16  amended  this  subdivision, where the carrier or employer has [provided]
    17  paid one hundred thirty weeks of compensation  pursuant  to  subdivision
    18  five  of  this section [beyond one hundred thirty weeks from the date of
    19  accident or disablement], all subsequent weeks in which compensation was
    20  paid solely pursuant to subdivision five shall be considered to be bene-
    21  fit weeks for purposes of this section, with  the  carrier  or  employer
    22  receiving  credit  for  all  such subsequent weeks against the amount of
    23  maximum benefit weeks  when  permanent  partial  disability  under  this
    24  section  is  determined. In the event of payment for intermittent tempo-
    25  rary partial disability paid after one hundred  thirty  weeks  from  the
    26  date  of accident or disablement, such time shall be reduced to a number
    27  of weeks, for which the carrier will receive a credit against the  maxi-
    28  mum benefit weeks. For a claimant with a date of accident or disablement
    29  after  the  effective  date  of  the chapter of the laws of two thousand
    30  [seventeen] twenty-three that amended this subdivision, when  permanency
    31  is  at  issue,  and a claimant has submitted medical evidence that he or
    32  she is not at maximum medical improvement, [and the carrier has produced
    33  or has had a reasonable opportunity to produce  an  independent  medical
    34  examination  concerning  maximum medical improvement,] and the board has
    35  determined that the claimant is not yet at maximum medical  improvement,
    36  the  carrier  shall  not  receive  a credit for benefit weeks prior to a
    37  finding that the claimant has reached maximum medical  improvement[,  at
    38  which  time  the carrier shall receive credit for any weeks of temporary
    39  disability paid to claimant after such finding against the maximum bene-
    40  fit weeks awarded under this subdivision]. For those  claimants  classi-
    41  fied  as  permanently partially disabled who no longer receive indemnity
    42  payments because they have surpassed their  number  of  maximum  benefit
    43  weeks, the following provisions will apply:
    44    (1)  There  will be a presumption that medical services shall continue
    45  notwithstanding the completion of the time period for  compensation  set
    46  forth  in this section and the burden of going forward and the burden of
    47  proof will lie with the carrier, self-insured employer or  state  insur-
    48  ance  fund in any application before the board to discontinue or suspend
    49  such services. Medical services will continue during the pendency of any
    50  such application and any appeals thereto.
    51    (2) The board is directed to promulgate regulations that establish  an
    52  independent  review  and  appeal  by  an  outside agent or entity of the
    53  board's choosing of any  administrative  law  judge's  determination  to
    54  discontinue  or suspend medical services before a final determination of
    55  the board.
    56    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.