New York Laws
Article 2 - Compensation
35 - Safety Net.

(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.

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