Bill Text: NY S01799 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to eligibility for classification as permanent total disability; includes inability to perform the full range of sedentary work or approval for federal social security disability benefits as a result of a compensable accident or occupational disease as constituting permanent total disability.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO LABOR [S01799 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S01799-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          1799

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 17, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens.  RAMOS, BRISPORT, JACKSON, MAYER -- 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 eligibil-
          ity for classification as permanent total disability

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Subdivision  1 of section 15 of the workers' compensation
     2  law, as amended by chapter 675 of the laws of 1977, is amended  to  read
     3  as follows:
     4    1. Permanent total disability. In case of total disability adjudged to
     5  be  permanent  sixty-six and two-thirds per centum of the average weekly
     6  wages shall be paid to the employee during the continuance of such total
     7  disability. Loss of both hands, or both arms,  or  both  feet,  or  both
     8  legs,  or  both eyes, or of any two thereof, or inability to perform the
     9  full range of sedentary work, or approval for  federal  social  security
    10  disability  benefits  as  a  result of a compensable accident or occupa-
    11  tional disease shall, in the absence of conclusive proof to the  contra-
    12  ry, constitute permanent total disability.  In all other cases permanent
    13  total  disability  shall  be  determined  in  accordance with the facts.
    14  Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, an injured employee
    15  disabled due to the loss or total loss of use  of  both  eyes,  or  both
    16  hands,  or  both arms, or both feet, or both legs, or of any two thereof
    17  shall not suffer any diminution of his compensation by engaging in busi-
    18  ness or employment provided his earnings or wages,  when  combined  with
    19  his  compensation,  shall not be in excess of the wage base on which the
    20  maximum weekly compensation benefit is computed under the law in  effect
    21  at  time  of  such  earning;  further  provided, that if the combination
    22  exceeds such wage base, the  compensation  shall  be  diminished  to  an
    23  amount  which, together with his earnings or wages, shall equal the wage
    24  base; and further provided that  the  application  of  this  subdivision

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01590-01-3
        S. 1799                             2

     1  shall  not result in reduction of compensation which an injured employee
     2  who is disabled due to the loss or total loss of use of  both  eyes,  or
     3  both hands, or both arms, or both feet, or both legs or of any two ther-
     4  eof,  would  otherwise  be entitled to under any other provision of this
     5  section.  For the purposes of this section,  inability  to  perform  the
     6  full range of sedentary work shall mean the inability to exert up to ten
     7  pounds  of  force occasionally or up to one-third of the workday, or the
     8  inability to exert a negligible amount  of  force  frequently  to  lift,
     9  carry,  push,  pull, or otherwise move objects, including the home body,
    10  and examples of the inability to perform the  full  range  of  sedentary
    11  work  shall  include  but  not be limited to the inability to sit for at
    12  least six hours in an eight-hour day and occasionally walk or stand  for
    13  no  more than two hours in an eight-hour day. In circumstances where the
    14  inability to perform the full  range  of  sedentary  work  involves  the
    15  performance  of unskilled sedentary work, related activities of a non-e-
    16  xertional nature such as seeing, hand-manipulation,  and  understanding,
    17  remembering, and carrying out simple instructions shall be considered.
    18    §  2.  This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to inju-
    19  ries subject to the provisions of the workers' compensation law  arising
    20  on and after the effective date of this act.