A 3723: Allows certain claimants to be reclassified to permanent total disability or total industrial disability due to extreme hardship; defines extreme hardship.
The bill aims to amend the workers' compensation law to allow certain claimants to be reclassified to permanent total disability or total industrial disability due to extreme hardship. A claimant can request reclassification if the loss of wage-earning capacity is greater than 50% and meets one of the following criteria: * The injured worker's social security disability benefits would be less than 50% of their average weekly wage upon termination of partial disability benefits. * The injured worker would be unable to meet expenses for themselves and dependents upon termination of partial disability benefits. * Additional medical, functional, or vocational factors have further eroded the injured worker's wage-earning capacity. * The injured worker's income would be below the federal poverty guidelines upon termination of partial disability benefits. The bill takes effect immediately.
| Jan. 07, 2026 | referred to labor |
| Jan. 30, 2025 | referred to labor |
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3723 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 30, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. BRONSON, REYES, SHRESTHA, DAVILA, EACHUS, MEEKS -- read once and referred to the Committee on Labor AN ACT to amend the workers' compensation law, in relation to allowing certain claimants to be reclassified to permanent total disability or total industrial disability due to extreme hardship The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 3 of section 35 of the workers' compensation 2 law, as amended by section 2 of subpart A of part NNN of chapter 59 of 3 the laws of 2017, is amended to read as follows: 4 3. Extreme hardship redetermination. In cases where the loss of wage- 5 earning capacity is greater than [seventy-five] fifty percent, a claim- 6 ant may request[, within the year prior to the scheduled exhaustion of7indemnity benefits under paragraph w of subdivision three of section8fifteen of this article,] that the board reclassify the claimant to 9 permanent total disability or total industrial disability due to factors 10 reflecting extreme hardship. For the purposes of this subdivision, 11 "extreme hardship" shall mean: (a) the injured worker's income from 12 social security disability benefits and disability pension, if applica- 13 ble, would be less than fifty percent of such injured worker's average 14 weekly wage upon termination of permanent partial disability benefits; 15 (b) the injured worker will be unable to meet expenses for themself and 16 any dependents upon termination of permanent partial disability bene- 17 fits; (c) additional medical, functional, or vocational factors arising 18 subsequent to the classification of permanent partial disability have 19 further eroded the injured worker's wage earning capacity; or (d) the 20 injured worker's income would be below the federal poverty guidelines 21 upon termination of permanent partial disability benefits. 22 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD06518-01-5