What's happening
This bill lowers the payroll threshold requiring workplace safety programs from eight million to 1.2 million dollars and adds annual payroll adjustment.
Why it matters
Expanding Coverage. By lowering the payroll threshold from $8 million to $1.2 million, many more employers will be required to implement workplace safety and loss prevention programs—potentially covering thousands of additional small and medium businesses and their employees.
Dynamic Payroll Threshold. The new requirement for annual adjustment of the payroll threshold ensures that the law keeps pace with wage inflation and economic changes, preventing the threshold from becoming outdated or less effective over time.
Increased Administrative and Compliance Burdens. Businesses just above the new, lower threshold will now face new compliance obligations, such as mandatory safety program implementation, consultations, and remedial actions, which could mean additional costs and administrative work for these employers.
Potential for Safer Workplaces. By extending these requirements to more employers, the bill aims to reduce workplace injuries and insurance costs, potentially resulting in safer work environments, reduced workers’ compensation claims, and long-term savings for both businesses and the state.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Expand Workplace Safety Rules
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
History
- Referred to labor
- Referred to labor
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Expand Workplace Safety Programs
In Senate Committee · Labor · Sponsor John E. Brooks
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
3547
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 29, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. ZEBROWSKI -- read once and referred to the Committee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the workers' compensation law, in relation to workplace safety and loss prevention programs
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivisions 1 and 2 of section 134 of the workers' compensation law, as amended by chapter 6 of the laws of 2007 and subdivision 1 as further amended by section 104 of part A of chapter 62 of the laws of 2011, are amended to read as follows:
1. The commissioner of labor, in consultation with the superintendent of financial services and the chair of the board shall develop a compulsory workplace safety and loss prevention program for all employers whose most recent annual payroll is in excess of [eight] one million two hundred thousand dollars and whose most recent experience rating exceeds the level of 1.2. The commissioner of labor shall adjust the annual payroll amount in this subdivision annually beginning on the first of March next succeeding the date on which the chapter of the laws of two thousand nineteen that amended this subdivision shall have become law. Such adjustment shall be based on the percentage increase in the wages and salaries for private industry workers for the preceding calendar year as stated in the Employment Cost Index reported by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. The commissioner of labor shall promulgate rules and regulations for the implementation of safety, drug and alcohol prevention, and return to work incentive programs.
2. The commissioner of labor shall provide written notification to employers whose most recent annual payroll is in excess of [eight] one million two hundred thousand dollars and whose most recent experience rating exceeds the level of 1.2 that they are required to undergo a workplace safety and loss prevention consultation and written evaluation. Copies of the written notification shall be provided to the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06524-01-9
A. 3547 2
department of labor and the employer's insurer. The employer must arrange for the consultation and evaluation within thirty days after receiving the notification and must within ten days thereafter notify its insurer and the department of labor in writing of the means by which the evaluation is to be accomplished. The employer must provide its insurer and the department of labor with a copy of the evaluation within thirty days after receiving it from the safety and loss consultant. Any remedial action recommended in the evaluation must be implemented by the employer within a reasonable period of time, but not to exceed six months after the employer receives the evaluation. The insurer, within sixty days after the expiration of such six month period, shall conduct an inspection to ascertain whether the recommended remedial action has been implemented, and the insurer shall within forty-five days thereafter provide to the employer and the department of labor a copy of its inspection report.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.