Bill Text: NY S03292 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended


Bill Title: Establishes a registry of workplace fatalities to record information pertaining to all incidents under which an employee suffers a fatal injury; requires the filing of 72-hour and 90-day reports pertaining to such workplace fatalities and requires the department of labor to publish such reports on the department's website.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 23-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2020-12-28 - COMMITTED TO RULES [S03292 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S03292-Amended.html



                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         3292--B
            Cal. No. 359

                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    February 5, 2019
                                       ___________

        Introduced by Sens. RAMOS, ADDABBO, BIAGGI, GOUNARDES, HOYLMAN, JACKSON,
          KAMINSKY,  KAPLAN,  KENNEDY,  MAY,  MAYER,  METZGER,  MYRIE,  PERSAUD,
          SANDERS, SKOUFIS, THOMAS -- read twice and ordered printed,  and  when
          printed  to  be  committed  to  the  Committee  on  Labor -- committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to said committee -- recommitted to the Committee on Labor in  accord-
          ance  with  Senate  Rule  6,  sec.  8  -- reported favorably from said
          committee, ordered to first and second  report,  ordered  to  a  third
          reading,  amended  and  ordered  reprinted, retaining its place in the
          order of third reading

        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

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD09276-04-9

        S. 3292--B                          2

     1  employer unless such person is also directed and compensated by another.
     2  In such cases, the  persons  successively  above  the  employee  in  the
     3  employment chain shall be considered the employer.
     4    c.  "Workplace"  shall  include,  but not be limited to, an employee's
     5  location of direct employment, remote sites in the scope of  performance
     6  of the employee's duties, or any other site where the employee may be as
     7  a result of employer direction.
     8    3.  Seventy-two-hour reports. a. Each county coroner, medical examiner
     9  or other authorized official whose role  is  to  register  deaths  shall
    10  report  all  workplace  fatalities  to the department within seventy-two
    11  hours of declaration of death, including any fatalities  resulting  from
    12  earlier work place injuries.
    13    b.  Information to be reported within seventy-two hours shall include,
    14  but not be limited to:
    15    (i) the name of the employee;
    16    (ii) the age of the employee;
    17    (iii) the occupation of the employee;
    18    (iv) the cause of death, if such cause of death  has  been  determined
    19  within the seventy-two hours;
    20    (v) the manner of death;
    21    (vi) the location of death;
    22    (vii) the name of the employer;
    23    (viii) the business address of the employer;
    24    (ix) the stated business purpose or industry of the employer;
    25    (x)  the name of the official or medical personnel making the declara-
    26  tion of death;
    27    (xi) the name of the person or persons charged with making the  deter-
    28  mination of the cause and manner of death; and
    29    (xii)  contact  information  for the office making notification to the
    30  department, including contact information  for  the  person  or  persons
    31  making  the  declaration of death, the person or persons determining the
    32  cause of death, and the person or  persons  determining  the  manner  of
    33  death.
    34    4. Ninety-day reports. a. Information shall be reported to the depart-
    35  ment  by  the  official of each county who is charged with investigating
    36  fatal incidents no later than  ninety  days  after  the  declaration  of
    37  death.
    38    b.  Information  to  be reported within ninety days shall include, but
    39  not be limited to:
    40    (i) the cause of death of the employee, when such cause of  death  has
    41  not  been  previously  determined  and  reported in the seventy-two-hour
    42  report;
    43    (ii) the race of the employee;
    44    (iii) the ethnicity of the employee;
    45    (iv) the nationality of the employee;
    46    (v) the immigration status of the employee;
    47    (vi) the union status of the employee;
    48    (vii) whether criminal or civil charges have been  filed  against  the
    49  employer  in  the death of the employee and, for incidents where charges
    50  have been filed:
    51    (1) the details of such criminal or civil charges including the charg-
    52  ing officer or agency; and
    53    (2) the actual criminal or civil charge or charges;
    54    (viii) the name of the person charged with making  the  determinations
    55  and reporting the information required by this section; and

        S. 3292--B                          3

     1    (ix)  contact  information  for  the office making notification to the
     2  department, including contact information  for  the  person  or  persons
     3  charged  with  making  the  determinations and reporting the information
     4  required by this section.
     5    5.  Reporting  system.  The  department  shall  establish  a telephone
     6  reporting system for the information required to be reported pursuant to
     7  this section within ninety days of the effective date of  this  section.
     8  The  department  shall  also  establish an online electronic information
     9  reporting system for the information required to be reported pursuant to
    10  this section within twelve months of the effective date of this section.
    11    6. Failure to report. Failure by a county coroner,  medical  examiner,
    12  other  authorized  official  whose role is to register deaths, or county
    13  official charged with investigating fatal incidents to make seventy-two-
    14  hour or ninety-day reports in a timely manner shall be subject to a fine
    15  of not less than one thousand dollars nor more than  two  thousand  five
    16  hundred  dollars per failure to make such seventy-two-hour or ninety-day
    17  report.
    18    7. Accessibility of registry. The registry shall  be  published  elec-
    19  tronically  in  a  publicly  accessible  database  on  the  department's
    20  website. The database shall be published in a manner by which all infor-
    21  mation required pursuant to subdivisions three and four of this section,
    22  except that the victim's name shall be replaced by a unique  identifica-
    23  tion  number  generated by the department, is accessible and searchable.
    24  The department shall publish the information  reported  in  seventy-two-
    25  hour  and  ninety-day  reports within one business day of the receipt of
    26  such reports by the department.
    27    § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
    28  it shall have become a law; provided, however, that any death subject to
    29  the provisions of this act that occurs on or after the day on which this
    30  bill shall  have  become  a  law  shall  be  subject  to  the  reporting
    31  provisions  of  this  act and shall be reported within thirty days after
    32  such death.   Effective  immediately,  the  addition,  amendment  and/or
    33  repeal  of  any  rule  or regulation necessary for the implementation of
    34  this act on its effective date are authorized to be made  and  completed
    35  on or before such effective date.
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