STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8434
IN SENATE
May 7, 2018
___________
Introduced by Sen. MURPHY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the workers' compensation law and the penal law, in
relation to discouraging workers' compensation fraud
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 114 of the workers' compensation law, as added by
2 chapter 635 of the laws of 1996, subdivision 4 as amended and subdivi-
3 sion 5 as added by chapter 6 of the laws of 2007, is amended to read as
4 follows:
5 § 114. Penalties for fraudulent practices. 1. Any person who, knowing-
6 ly and with intent to defraud presents, causes to be presented, or
7 prepares with knowledge or belief that it will be presented to or by an
8 insurer or purported insurer, or any agent thereof, any written state-
9 ment as part of, or in support of, an application for the issuance of or
10 the rating of an insurance policy for compensation insurance[, or a
11 claim for payment or other benefit pursuant to a compensation policy]
12 which he or she knows to: (i) contain a false statement or represen-
13 tation concerning any fact material thereto; or (ii) omits any fact
14 material thereto, shall be guilty of a class E felony. Upon conviction,
15 the court in addition to any other authorized sentence, may order
16 forfeiture of [all rights to compensation or payments of any benefit]
17 any property, including real property, buildings and appurtenances that
18 constitute the instrumentality of the entity on whose behalf the appli-
19 cation was made, and may also require restitution of any amount received
20 as a result of a violation of this subdivision.
21 1-a. Any person who, knowingly and with intent to defraud presents,
22 causes to be presented, or prepares with knowledge or belief that it
23 will be presented to or by an insurer or purported insurer, or any agent
24 thereof, any written statement as part of, or in support of, a claim for
25 payment or other benefit pursuant to a compensation policy which he or
26 she knows to: (i) contain a false statement or representation concerning
27 any fact material thereto; or (ii) omits any fact material thereto,
28 shall be guilty of a class E felony. Upon conviction, the court in addi-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14814-01-8
S. 8434 2
1 tion to any other authorized sentence, may order forfeiture of all
2 rights to compensation or payments of any benefit, and may also require
3 restitution of any amount received as a result of a violation of this
4 subdivision.
5 2. An employer or carrier, or any employee, agent, or person acting on
6 behalf of an employer or carrier, who knowingly makes a false statement
7 or representation as to a material fact in the course of reporting,
8 investigation of, or adjusting a claim for any benefit or payment under
9 this chapter for the purpose of avoiding provision of such payment or
10 benefit shall be guilty of a class E felony. Upon conviction, the court
11 in addition to any other authorized sentence, may order forfeiture of
12 any property, including real property, buildings and appurtenances that
13 constitute the instrumentality of the employer or carrier and may also
14 require restitution of any amount received as a result of a violation of
15 this subdivision.
16 3. A person who knowingly makes a false statement or representation as
17 to a material fact for the purpose of obtaining, maintaining or renewing
18 insurance under this chapter, whether for himself or herself or for any
19 other person or entity or for the purpose of evading the requirements of
20 section fifty of this chapter shall be guilty of a class E felony. Upon
21 conviction, the court in addition to any other authorized sentence, may
22 order forfeiture of any property, including real property, buildings and
23 appurtenances that constitute the instrumentality of the entity on whose
24 behalf the application was made. In addition to any other remedy, the
25 carrier providing insurance shall be entitled to restitution of any
26 amount obtained or withheld as a result of a violation of this subdivi-
27 sion.
28 4. Consistent with the provisions of the criminal procedure law, in
29 any prosecution alleging a violation of subdivision one, two or three of
30 this section, or sections fifty-two and one hundred thirty-one of this
31 chapter, in which the act or acts alleged may also constitute a
32 violation of the penal or other law, the prosecuting official may charge
33 a person pursuant to the provisions of this section and in the same
34 accusatory instrument with a violation of such other law.
35 5. A person (a) who is convicted of a second or subsequent offense
36 under this section within ten years of the prior conviction, or (b) who
37 violates any provision of this section concerning two or more claimants,
38 shall be guilty of a class [D] B felony.
39 § 2. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 460.10 of the penal
40 law, as amended by chapter 442 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read
41 as follows:
42 (b) Any felony set forth elsewhere in the laws of this state and
43 defined by the tax law relating to alcoholic beverage, cigarette, gaso-
44 line and similar motor fuel taxes; article seventy-one of the environ-
45 mental conservation law relating to water pollution, hazardous waste or
46 substances hazardous or acutely hazardous to public health or safety of
47 the environment; article twenty-three-A of the general business law
48 relating to prohibited acts concerning stocks, bonds and other securi-
49 ties, article twenty-two of the general business law concerning monopo-
50 lies, article seven of the workers' compensation law concerning fraud.
51 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.