S 305: Clarifies that workers who are temporarily partially disabled are entitled to payment of benefits at a reduced rate unless their separation from employment is unrelated to the compensable injury.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 305 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. RHOADS -- 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 establish- ing statutory guidelines for return to work by temporarily partially disabled workers The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 5 of section 15 of the workers' compensation 2 law, as amended by chapter 161 of the laws of 1966, is amended to read 3 as follows: 4 5. Temporary partial disability. In case of temporary partial disabil- 5 ity resulting in decrease of earning capacity, the compensation shall be 6 two-thirds of the difference between the injured employee's average 7 weekly wages before the accident and [his] such injured employee's wage 8 earning capacity after the accident in the same or other employment. 9 Compensation under this subdivision shall be payable during the contin- 10 uance of such temporary partial disability, without the necessity for 11 the injured employee to demonstrate ongoing attachment to the labor 12 market, unless the board finds that the injured employee's separation 13 from employment is wholly unrelated to their compensable injury. 14 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD01206-01-5