ALBANY — State labor leaders are pushing back against a set of proposed Workers Compensation regulations they claim will slash benefits to injured workers.
The proposed regulations, which were unveiled by the Workers Compensation Board earlier this month, would drastically reduce payments to workers who’ve suffered diminished use of an arm or leg, union officials claim.
They would also place increased requirements on injured workers to show their future earning capacity would be diminished and make it harder for workers to contest their awards, officials added.
“This plan is an insult to all working men and women,” said NY AFL-CIO president Mario Cilento. “Benefit cuts for injured workers are wholly unjustifiable.”
The proposed regulations are the result of legislation approved by Gov. Cuomo and state lawmakers in April that required the Workers Compensation Board to modernize its guidelines to reflect advances in medical technologies that get workers back on the job faster than in prior years.
“The current guidelines are decades old and do not reflect current medical science or practice,” said Brian Keegan, a spokesman for the Workers Compensation Board.
Keegan said the proposed regulations are still subject to change and the board is in the process of accepting public comments on them. The board is required by the April law to have new regulations in place by Jan. 1.
“Public comment by all stakeholders is encouraged and necessary to assist the board in arriving at a final product,” Keegan said. “We ask that comments be instructive and constructive, with specific recommendations for suggested changes.”
Lev Ginsburg, director of government affairs for the Business Council of New York State, said his organization is still reviewing the proposed regulations but has been supportive of their intent — to modernize the Workers Compensation system.
Ginsburg noted that Workers Compensation payments to workers with leg or arm impairments cost employers in the state $1.3 billion in 2015, of which $900 million was paid to workers who were back at work within two weeks.
Cilento and other union leaders, however, said the proposed regulations exceed what was required by the law and should be scrapped.
They noted that the regulations make it harder for workers to obtain independent medical examinations to bolster their claims, but also make it possible for the board to deny claims if an injured worker refused to cooperate with an insurance company’s request for an independent examination.
“If enacted, this package would drastically reduce awards for workers that lose the use of a body part and introduce changes to the process that would lead to ever increasing uncertainty, delay and litigation for injured workers,” said Cilento, who urged the board to scrap the proposed regulations and draft new ones.
