2023 New York Laws › WKC - Workers' Compensation › Article 2 - Compensation › 35 - Safety Net.

§  35.  Safety  net.  1. Return to work. (a) The commissioner of labor
will issue a report to the governor, the speaker of  the  assembly,  the
majority  leader  of  the  senate, and the chairs of the labor, ways and
means and finance committees of the assembly and  senate  on  or  before
December  first, two thousand seven, making recommendations as to how to
assure that workers categorized by the board  as  permanently  partially
disabled   return   to   gainful   employment  to  the  greatest  extent
practicable.  Such  commissioner  will   consider   administrative   and
legislative remedies, and shall include estimates of cost in the report.
The   report  shall  examine  best  practices  and  the  laws  of  other
jurisdictions, as well as any relevant programs authorized by  New  York
law.  The  report shall additionally examine return to work practices as
implemented by carriers, the state insurance fund,  employers,  and  the
board.   It   shall   also   examine   the  relationship  of  vocational
rehabilitation to ultimate return to work.
(b) The commissioner of labor will be assisted by an advisory  council
constituted of six persons appointed by the governor as follows:
(i)  a representative of organized labor appointed upon recommendation
of  the  New  York  State  American  Federation  of  Labor-Congress   of
Industrial Organizations;
(ii)  a  representative  of  the  business  community  appointed  upon
recommendation of the Business Council of New York State, Incorporated;
(iii) one person upon recommendation of the  majority  leader  of  the
senate;
(iv)  one  person  upon recommendation of the speaker of the assembly;
and
(v) two other persons in the governor's discretion.
2. Total industrial disability. No provision of this article shall  in
any  way  be  read  to  derogate  or impair current or future claimants'
existing rights to apply at any time  to  obtain  the  status  of  total
industrial disability under current case law.
3.  Extreme  hardship  redetermination.  In  cases  where  the loss of
wage-earning capacity is greater than seventy-five percent,  a  claimant
may  request,  within  the  year  prior  to  the scheduled exhaustion of
indemnity benefits under paragraph w of  subdivision  three  of  section
fifteen  of  this  article,  that  the  board reclassify the claimant to
permanent total disability or total industrial disability due to factors
reflecting extreme hardship.
4. Annual safety net reporting. The board,  in  conjunction  with  the
commissioner  of  labor  and  the  superintendent of financial services,
shall track all  claimants  who  have  been  awarded  permanent  partial
disability  status  and  report annually on December first, beginning in
two thousand eight, to the governor, the speaker of  the  assembly,  the
majority  leader  of  the  senate, and the chairs of the labor, ways and
means and finance committees of the assembly and senate:
(i) The number of said claimants who have:
(1) returned to gainful employment;
(2) been recategorized as being totally industrially disabled;
(3) remain subject to duration limitations set forth in paragraph w of
subdivision three of section fifteen of this article; and
(4) not returned to work, and whose indemnity payments have expired.
(ii) The additional steps the commissioner contemplates are  necessary
to  minimize the number of workers who have neither returned to work nor
been recategorized from permanent partial disability.