2023 New York Laws › VAW - Volunteer Ambulance Workers' Benefit › Article 1 - Short Title; Purpose; Definitions › 3 - Definitions.

§ 3. Definitions. As used in this chapter:
1. "Volunteer ambulance worker" means an active volunteer member of an
  ambulance  company  as  specified on a list regularly maintained by that
  company for the purpose of this chapter.
2. "Ambulance company" means  any  voluntary  or  municipal  ambulance
  service registered or certified pursuant to article thirty of the public
  health  law,  except  an  ambulance service subject to the provisions of
  section two hundred nine-b of the general municipal law.
3. "Line of duty" means  the  performance  by  a  volunteer  ambulance
  worker  as  a  volunteer  ambulance  worker of the duties and activities
  described in subdivision one of section five of  this  chapter  and  the
  same  such  duties  and  activities  performed  for  a  specialized team
  established pursuant to the provisions of section two hundred nine-bb of
  the general municipal law for which the volunteer ambulance worker  does
  not  receive  any  remuneration  or  a  gratuity  and shall be deemed to
  include any date of injury as determined by  the  workers'  compensation
  board  pursuant  to the provisions of section forty-one of this chapter.
  The following shall not be deemed to  be  remuneration  or  a  gratuity:
  reimbursement  of  expenses  for meals, lodging and actual and necessary
  travel; the receipt of a mileage allowance in lieu  of  travel  expense;
  and the acceptance of transportation, food, drink, shelter, clothing and
  similar items while on duty or engaged in such activities.
4. "Injury" means any disablement of a volunteer ambulance worker that
  results  from  services  performed  in  line of duty and such disease or
  infection as may naturally and unavoidably result from an injury.
5. "Child" includes a posthumous child, a child legally adopted  prior
  to  the  injury  of  the volunteer ambulance worker; and a step-child or
  acknowledged child born out  of  wedlock  dependent  upon  the  deceased
  volunteer ambulance worker.
6.  "Surviving  spouse" means the legal spouse of a deceased volunteer
  ambulance worker, but shall not include a spouse who has  abandoned  the
  deceased.  The term "abandoned", as used in this subdivision, means such
  an abandonment as would be sufficient under section two hundred  of  the
  domestic  relations  law  to  sustain  a  judgment of separation on that
  ground.
7. "Dependent" means a surviving spouse entitled to  receive  benefits
  under  this  chapter, whether or not actually dependent upon a volunteer
  ambulance worker, unless a contrary meaning is clearly intended.
8. "Earning capacity", except as herein provided, means:
a. The ability of a volunteer ambulance worker to perform  on  a  five
  day or six day basis either the work usually and ordinarily performed by
  him  in  his  remunerated  employment  or  other work which for any such
  worker would be a reasonable substitute for the  remunerated  employment
  in which he was employed at the time of his injury, or
b.  The  ability  of a volunteer ambulance worker to perform on a five
  day or six day basis either the work usually and ordinarily performed by
  him in the practice of his profession or in the conduct of his trade  or
  business,  including  farming,  and  from  which  he could derive earned
  income or other work which for any such person  would  be  a  reasonable
  substitute for the profession, trade or business in which he was engaged
  at the time of his injury.
Every  volunteer  ambulance worker shall be considered to have earning
  capacity  and,  if  the  provisions  of  paragraphs  a  and  b  of  this
  subdivision   are  not  applicable  in  any  given  case,  the  workers'
  compensation board, in the interest  of  justice,  shall  determine  the
  reasonable  earning  capacity of the volunteer ambulance worker with due
  regard to the provisions of such paragraphs and the work  he  reasonably
  could  be  expected  to  obtain  and  for  which he is qualified by age,

  education, training and experience. The ability of a volunteer ambulance
  worker to perform the duties of a  volunteer  ambulance  worker,  or  to
  engage   in   activities   incidental  thereto,  may  be  considered  in
  determining  loss  of earning capacity, but the inability of a volunteer
  ambulance worker to perform such duties or to engage in such  activities
  shall not be a basis of determining loss of earning capacity.
9.  "State"  means all territory within the boundaries of the state of
  New York, including territory which has been or may hereafter  be  ceded
  to  the federal government or to the United Nations and territory within
  the boundaries of Indian reservations.
10. "Political subdivision" means a county,  city,  town,  village  or
  fire or ambulance district.
11.  "State  fund"  means  the  state  insurance  fund provided for in
  article six of the workers' compensation law.
12.  "County  plan  of  self-insurance"  means  a   county   plan   of
  self-insurance under article five of the workers' compensation law.
13.  "Insurance carrier" means the state fund, the stock corporations,
  mutual  corporations,  group  self-insurers   or   reciprocal   insurers
  described  in  subdivision  nine  of  section  thirty of this chapter, a
  county plan of self-insurance, or a self-insuring political subdivision.
  For purposes of this chapter, a  nonprofit  property/casualty  insurance
  company  which  is  licensed  pursuant  to subsection (b) of section six
  thousand seven hundred four of the insurance law shall be deemed a stock
  corporation and a nonprofit property/casualty insurance company which is
  licensed as a reciprocal insurer pursuant to subsection (c)  of  section
  six  thousand  seven hundred four of the insurance law shall be deemed a
  reciprocal insurer.
14. "Fund raising activity" means a fund raising activity described in
  subdivision one of section two hundred four-a of the  general  municipal
  law,  except  that for the purposes of paragraph k of subdivision one of
  section five of this chapter it shall not include competitive events  in
  which  volunteer  ambulance  workers  are competitors, such as baseball,
  basketball, football, bowling, tugs  of  war,  donkey  baseball,  donkey
  basketball,  boxing, wrestling, contests between bands or drum corps, or
  other competitive  events  in  which  volunteer  ambulance  workers  are
  competitors  and  which  involve  physical  exertion  on the part of the
  competitors. Such term "fund raising activity" shall not include drills,
  parades, inspections,  reviews,  competitive  tournaments,  contests  or
  public  exhibitions,  described in paragraphs e and h of subdivision one
  of section five of this chapter, even though prizes are awarded at  such
  events.
15. The "workers' compensation rating board" or the "New York workers'
  compensation  rating  board" shall have the meaning set forth in section
  two of the workers' compensation law.