STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
543
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE(Prefiled)
January 9, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sens. AKSHAR, FUNKE -- 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 reporting
by the workers' compensation board and appointments to the advisory
board; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expiration
thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions 1 and 4 of section 35 of the workers' compen-
2 sation law, subdivision 1 as added by chapter 6 of the laws of 2007 and
3 subdivision 4 as amended by section 2 of subpart A of part NNN of chap-
4 ter 59 of the laws of 2017, are amended and a new subdivision 5 is added
5 to read as follows:
6 1. Return to work. (a) The [commissioner of labor will] board shall
7 issue a report annually in the month of March to the governor, the
8 speaker of the assembly, the majority leader of the senate, and the
9 chairs of the labor, ways and means and finance committees of the assem-
10 bly and senate [on or before December first, two thousand seven], making
11 recommendations as to how to assure that workers categorized by the
12 board as permanently partially disabled return to gainful employment to
13 the greatest extent practicable. [Such commissioner] The board will
14 consider administrative and legislative remedies, and shall include
15 estimates of cost in the report. The report shall examine best prac-
16 tices and the laws of other jurisdictions, as well as any relevant
17 programs authorized by New York law. The report shall additionally exam-
18 ine return to work practices as implemented by carriers, the state
19 insurance fund, employers, and the board. It shall also examine the
20 relationship of vocational rehabilitation to ultimate return to work.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05566-01-9
S. 543 2
1 (b) The [commissioner of labor will] board shall be assisted by an
2 advisory council constituted of [six] seven persons appointed by the
3 governor as follows:
4 (i) a representative of organized labor appointed upon recommendation
5 of the New York State American Federation of Labor-Congress of Indus-
6 trial Organizations;
7 (ii) a representative of the business community appointed upon recom-
8 mendation of the Business Council of New York State, Incorporated;
9 (iii) one person upon recommendation of the majority leader of the
10 senate;
11 (iv) one person upon recommendation of the speaker of the assembly;
12 [and]
13 (v) two other persons in the governor's discretion[.]; and
14 (vi) the commissioner of labor or his or her designee.
15 4. Annual safety net reporting. The board, in conjunction with the
16 commissioner of labor and the superintendent of financial services,
17 shall track all claimants who have been awarded permanent partial disa-
18 bility status and report annually [on] in the month of December [first,
19 beginning in two thousand eight], to the governor, the speaker of the
20 assembly, the majority leader of the senate, and the chairs of the
21 labor, ways and means and finance committees of the assembly and senate:
22 (i) The number of said claimants who have:
23 (1) returned to gainful employment;
24 (2) been recategorized as being totally industrially disabled;
25 (3) remain subject to duration limitations set forth in paragraph w of
26 subdivision three of section fifteen of this article; and
27 (4) not returned to work, and whose indemnity payments have expired.
28 (ii) The additional steps the [commissioner] board contemplates are
29 necessary to minimize the number of workers who have neither returned to
30 work nor been recategorized from permanent partial disability.
31 5. Failure to file. Failure to file the report required by subdivision
32 four of this section shall require the chair and the commissioner of
33 labor to appear before the senate and assembly committees on labor, at
34 such committee chair's convenience, to provide information required by
35 subdivision four of this section.
36 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire and be
37 deemed repealed five years after such date.