STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5965
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 20, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. DE LA ROSA -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to establishing a registry of
workplace fatalities to record information pertaining to all incidents
under which an employee suffers a fatal injury
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 44 to read
2 as follows:
3 § 44. Workplace fatality registry. 1. Registry. The department shall
4 create and maintain a registry of workplace fatalities. The registry
5 shall include information regarding all incidents under which an employ-
6 ee suffers a fatal injury at their workplace.
7 2. Definitions. For the purposes of this section:
8 a. "Employee" shall include, but not be limited to, direct employees,
9 contracted employees, subcontracted employees, independent contractors,
10 temporary or contingency workers, incarcerated persons participating in
11 work programs for remuneration or credit, apprentices, interns, volun-
12 teers, or any other persons who perform duties at the direction and
13 discretion of an employer.
14 b. "Employer" shall include a direct employer, contractor, or subcon-
15 tractor. In the absence of a formal hiring agreement, the person who
16 directs or provides compensation to the employee shall be considered the
17 employer unless such person is also directed and compensated by another.
18 In such cases, the persons successively above the employee in the
19 employment chain shall be considered the employer. In the instance of
20 the death of an intern, apprentice or volunteer, the sponsoring company,
21 corporation or not-for-profit shall be considered the employer.
22 c. "Workplace" shall include, but not be limited to, an employee's
23 location of direct employment, remote sites in the scope of performance
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09276-03-9
A. 5965 2
1 of the employee's duties, or any other site where the employee may be as
2 a result of employer direction.
3 3. Seventy-two-hour reports. a. Each county coroner, medical examiner
4 or other authorized official whose role is to register deaths shall
5 report all workplace fatalities to the department within seventy-two
6 hours of declaration of death.
7 b. Information to be reported within seventy-two hours shall include,
8 but not be limited to:
9 (i) the name of the employee;
10 (ii) the age of the employee;
11 (iii) the occupation of the employee;
12 (iv) the cause of death, if such cause of death has been determined
13 within the seventy-two hours;
14 (v) the manner of death;
15 (vi) the location of death;
16 (vii) the name of the employer;
17 (viii) the business address of the employer;
18 (ix) the stated business purpose or industry of the employer;
19 (x) the name of the official or medical personnel making the declara-
20 tion of death;
21 (xi) the name of the person or persons charged with making the deter-
22 mination of the cause and manner of death; and
23 (xii) contact information for the office making notification to the
24 department, including contact information for the person or persons
25 making the declaration of death, the person or persons determining the
26 cause of death, and the person or persons determining the manner of
27 death.
28 4. Ninety-day reports. a. Information shall be reported to the depart-
29 ment by the official of each county who is charged with investigating
30 fatal incidents no later than ninety days after the declaration of
31 death.
32 b. Information to be reported within ninety days shall include, but
33 not be limited to:
34 (i) the cause of death of the employee, when such cause of death has
35 not been previously determined and reported in the seventy-two-hour
36 report;
37 (ii) the race of the employee;
38 (iii) the ethnicity of the employee;
39 (iv) the nationality of the employee;
40 (v) the immigration status of the employee;
41 (vi) the union status of the employee;
42 (vii) whether criminal or civil charges have been filed against the
43 employer in the death of the employee and, for incidents where charges
44 have been filed:
45 (1) the details of such criminal or civil charges including the charg-
46 ing officer or agency; and
47 (2) the actual criminal or civil charge or charges;
48 (viii) the name of the person charged with making the determinations
49 and reporting the information required by this section; and
50 (ix) contact information for the office making notification to the
51 department, including contact information for the person or persons
52 charged with making the determinations and reporting the information
53 required by this section.
54 5. Reporting system. The department shall establish a telephone
55 reporting system for the information required to be reported pursuant to
56 this section within ninety days of the effective date of this section.
A. 5965 3
1 The department shall also establish an online electronic information
2 reporting system for the information required to be reported pursuant to
3 this section within twelve months of the effective date of this section.
4 6. Failure to report. Failure by a county coroner, medical examiner,
5 other authorized official whose role is to register deaths, or county
6 official charged with investigating fatal incidents to make seventy-two-
7 hour or ninety-day reports in a timely manner shall be subject to a fine
8 of not less than one thousand dollars nor more than two thousand five
9 hundred dollars per failure to make such seventy-two-hour or ninety-day
10 report.
11 7. Accessibility of registry. The registry shall be published elec-
12 tronically in a publicly accessible database on the department's
13 website. The database shall be published in a manner by which all infor-
14 mation required pursuant to subdivisions three and four of this section
15 is accessible and searchable. The department shall publish the informa-
16 tion reported in seventy-two-hour and ninety-day reports within one
17 business day of the receipt of such reports by the department.
18 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
19 it shall have become a law; provided, however, that any death subject to
20 the provisions of this act that occurs on or after the day on which this
21 bill shall have become a law shall be subject to the reporting
22 provisions of this act and shall be reported within thirty days after
23 such death. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
24 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
25 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
26 on or before such effective date.