What's happening
This bill requires New York's Workers' Compensation Board to adopt impairment guidelines for scheduled loss of use awards similar to those from January 8, 2016.
Why it matters
Restores Familiar Standards. By requiring the Workers' Compensation Board to use impairment guidelines similar to those from January 8, 2016, the bill could reestablish criteria that workers, unions, and attorneys are already familiar with, reducing confusion and legal disputes over new or differing standards.
Affects Injury Compensation. The guidelines in question help determine how much injured workers receive for permanent loss or loss of use of body parts (like arms or legs). The specific guidelines influence whether workers receive higher or lower compensation for these injuries, directly impacting their financial recovery.
Limits Recent Changes. This bill effectively halts or reverses any more recent changes the Board may have made to impairment guidelines since 2016, potentially preventing reductions in benefits that could result from more restrictive or updated standards.
Signals Legislative Oversight. By mandating a specific set of guidelines, the legislature is asserting more control over a process typically managed by an administrative board, signaling a response to stakeholder concerns about fairness or adequacy in how injured workers are compensated.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Set Injury Award Guidelines
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
3 Co-sponsors
History
- Referred to labor
- Referred to labor
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
4014
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 1, 2017
Introduced by Sen. DeFRANCISCO -- 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 impairment guidelines for scheduled loss of use awards
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Paragraph w of subdivision 3 of section 15 of the workers' compensation law is relettered paragraph x and a new paragraph w is added to read as follows:
w. Impairment guidelines for scheduled loss of use awards. For the purposes determining loss or loss of use of earning capacity of an employee under this subdivision the board shall immediately adopt impairment guidelines for scheduled loss of use awards substantially similar to those developed and completed by the board on or about January eighth, two thousand sixteen.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09618-01-7
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the workers' compensation law, in relation to impairment guidelines for scheduled loss of use awards
Purpose
This bill would amend the workers' compensation law relating to the impairment guidelines for scheduled loss of use award.
Summary of provisions
Section 1- Paragraph w of subdivision 3 of section 15 of the workers' compensation law is relettered paragraph x and a new paragraph w is added.
Section 2- Effective date.
Justification
The Workers' Compensation Board relies on impairment guidelines for determining medical impairment for scheduled loss of use awards representing over $1.3 billion in costs to the system that are 35 years old. The use of 35 year-old medical data in making any determinations is inefficient and imprudent.
The Workers' Compensation Board has developed new impairment guidelines utilizing modern medical evidence and medical results. They would guarantee that NY State is using up to date medicine and medical assumptions within the system. They have been completed for well over a year and should be released.
Legislative history
New bill
Fiscal implications
None
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.