Eliminates penalties assessed against employers or insurance carriers for failure to comply with certain notice requirements relating to payment and cessation of compensation in certain circumstances.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8693
IN SENATE
March 30, 2022
___________
Introduced by Sen. BROOKS -- 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 eliminat-
ing certain penalties assessed in relation to certain notice require-
ments; and to repeal certain provisions of the workers' compensation
law relating thereto
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraphs (c) and (d) of subdivision 1 of section 25 of
2 the workers' compensation law, as amended by chapter 635 of the laws of
3 1996, are amended to read as follows:
4 (c) If the employer or insurance carrier does not controvert the
5 injured worker's right to compensation such employer or insurance carri-
6 er shall, either on or before the eighteenth day after disability, or
7 within ten days after the employer first has knowledge of the alleged
8 accident, whichever period is the greater, begin paying compensation and
9 shall immediately notify the chair in accordance with a form to be
10 prescribed by him, that the payment of compensation has begun, accompa-
11 nied by the further statement that the employer or insurance carrier, as
12 the case may be, will notify the chair when the payment of compensation
13 has been stopped. Notwithstanding any other contrary provision of law,
14 the penalties described in paragraph (e) of subdivision three of this
15 section shall not apply to this paragraph.
16 (d) Whenever for any reason compensation payments cease, the employer
17 or its insurance carrier shall within sixteen days thereafter, send to
18 the chair a notice on a form prescribed by the chair that such payment
19 has been stopped, which notice shall contain the name of the injured
20 employee or his or her principle dependent, the date of accident, the
21 date to which compensation has been paid and the whole amount of compen-
22 sation paid. [In case the employer or its insurance carrier fails so to
23 notify the chair of the cessation of payments within sixteen days after
24 the date on which compensation has been paid, the board may impose a
25 penalty upon such employer or its insurance carrier in the amount of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15147-02-2
S. 8693 2
1 three hundred dollars, which shall be paid to the claimant. Such penalty
2 shall be collected in like manner as an award of compensation.]
3 § 2. The closing paragraph of paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of
4 section 25 of the workers' compensation law, as amended by section 1 of
5 subpart D of part NNN of chapter 59 of the laws of 2017, is amended to
6 read as follows:
7 If the insurance carrier shall fail [either] to [file notice of
8 controversy or] begin payment of compensation within the prescribed
9 period or within ten days after receipt of a copy of the notice required
10 in section one hundred ten of this chapter, whichever period is the
11 greater, the board may impose a penalty in the amount of three hundred
12 dollars, which shall be in addition to all other penalties provided for
13 in this chapter and shall be paid to the claimant. Such penalty shall be
14 collected in like manner as an award of compensation.
15 § 3. Paragraph (g) of subdivision 3 of section 25 of the workers'
16 compensation law is REPEALED.
17 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.