Modica Law Firm

Helping People Take Action

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • Why Us ?
    • Community Involvement
    • Recent Recognition
  • Our Team
    • Steven V. Modica, Esq.
      Principal
    • Lorrie Walsh Modica, Esq.
      Of Counsel
    • Gina T. Crawford, LCR
      Workers’ Comp Rep
    • Gregory E. Fassler, Esq.
      Associate Attorney
    • Courtney Rowan Gramza
      Paralegal
    • Joyce M. Guider
      Paralegal
    • Cynthia V. Sundlof
      Administrative Manager
    • Cynthia Witherspoon
      Paralegal
  • Do I Have a Case?
  • Advice Library
    • Workers’ Compensation
      • Workers’ Compensation’s New SLU Guidelines
      • Work-Related Hearing Loss
      • 2017 New York Workers’ Compensation Changes
      • Ten Things Every Injured Worker Should Know
      • Basic Facts and Practical Advice – Workers’ Comp
      • Helping Us Help You
      • What Medical Evidence is Needed?
      • Preparing for Your Defense Medical Examination
      • Do I have to Look for Work?
      • How Often Must I go to the Doctor?
      • M&T Reimbursement
      • What You Say, Write and Do
      • What do I get if I am Permanently Injured?
      • Loss of Wage Earning Capacity
      • Getting a SLU Award–7 Things You Need to Know
      • Getting a Permanency Award–7 Things You Need to Know
      • What if I Settle my Case for All Time?
    • Social Security Disability
      • Basic Facts and Practical Advice
      • Help Us Help You
      • Can I get Other Benefits While I Wait for SSD?
      • Other Social Security Benefits
      • How Do Work Disability Benefits Interact with SSD?
      • Can I work and Still Get SSD?
      • Applying by Telephone or in Person
      • Applying by Internet
      • Completing the ADL and Work History Reports
      • Substance Abuse in Social Security Disability Cases
      • Seeing the Social Security Doctor
      • Working with Us to Request Your Hearing
      • Am I Entitled to an Expedited Decision?
      • Important Information Update (Medical, Vocational & Earnings Records)
      • Preparing for Your Hearing
      • The Judge Approved my Case–What is Next?
      • Surviving a Continuing Disability Review
      • Surviving an Alleged Overpayment
      • New Representative Payee Protections Signed into Law
      • Notice About Changes to WC Offset Rule
    • Other Disability Benefits
      • NYS Retirement System Disability Pension Benefits
      • Advice for Attorneys
      • Off the Job Disabilities – Ten Things You Need to Know
      • Group Long Term Disability Benefit Appeals
    • Employment
      • Wage & Hour Law in a Nutshell
      • Fast & Furious—10 More Changes to NY Employment Laws
      • Whistleblowing 101
      • Demystifying Unemployment Insurance Benefits
      • Unions & the Opioid Crisis
      • Legal Issues for those who offer Internships
      • New York State Issues Final Guidance on New Sexual Harassment Laws
      • NYS Releases Draft Documents Regarding New Sexual Harassment Laws
      • Changes to Workplace Sexual Harassment Laws
      • Employing People in New York: What You Need to Know
      • Unemployment Insurance Benefits: Job Search Requirement
      • EEOC Recommendations About How to Fight Unlawful Harassment
      • Persistent Age Discrimination and Bias
      • New York Paid Family Leave Law
      • Criminal Arrests and Convictions
      • New York Minimum Wage Increases—What You Need to Know
      • New York Minimum Salary Increases–What You Need to Know
      • Changes to Federal Wage & Hour Laws–What You Need to Know
      • Employee or Independent Contractor?
      • Exercising Care When Engaging Domestic Workers
      • Seven Changes for 2016 That You Need to Know
      • Severance Agreements
      • New York Law on Paid Time Off
      • Professionals as Employers
      • Internet & Social Media Issues for Employers
      • How Safety Managers Can Stay Out of Legal Trouble
      • How Managers & Supervisors Can Stay out of Legal Trouble
      • To Disclose or Not – Issues for Folks with Multiple Sclerosis
      • Disability Benefit & Employment Issues for People with Fibromyalgia
    • Personal Injury Litigation
      • Asbestos is Still a Problem
      • Recovering More than Workers’ Compensation
      • What About WC Once My Personal Injury Case is Done?
      • Should I Borrow Money from a Litigation Loan Company?
      • Preparing for Your Deposition
    • Other Advice
      • Protecting You from Social Media
      • Top Ten Facts for Police Union Leaders About . . .
      • A Message to Local Lawyers From Steve Modica
      • Primer for Lawyers on New York False Claims Act
      • Working with the Government to Fight Fraud
      • Workers’ Compensation in 2016: Upcoming Changes Health Care Providers Need to Know
  • News
  • Links & Associations
  • Contact Us
  • Workers’ Comp
  • Disability Benefits
  • Employment
  • Construction Accidents
  • Whistle Blowers
  • Mediation/Arbitration

2017 New York Workers’ Compensation Changes

June 16, 2017 by Steve Modica

Print Friendly, PDF & Email


Earlier this year, Governor Cuomo and the New York State Legislature made several changes to the New York WC Law. It is unclear how all these changes will affect injured workers.

Here is a summary of changes that affect injured workers:

Looking for Work: Before the law changed on April 10, 2017, injured workers were required to prove that they were looking for work AFTER they were found to have had a permanent partial disability [“PPD”] by the WC Board [“WCB”]. Failing to produce such proof jeopardized the right of an injured worker to collect lost income benefits into the future.Because of the changes to the law, injured workers who have been classified with a PPD –and who were entitled to lost income benefits at the time of classification—NO LONGER MUST PROVIDE PROOF THAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR WORK. This requirement was difficult for many injured workers and put them at risk of losing lost income benefits.

First Responder Stress Claims: Before the law changed, first Responders (police, firemen, EMTs, paramedics, certified emergency medical providers, emergency dispatchers and other similar workers) who filed a WC claim for a mental injury were often barred from collecting because the stress they encountered was deemed to be “no-greater-than” the stress encountered by other similarly situated first responders. Such an argument will no longer defeat a WC claim. This change should allow more first responders who suffer mental injuries from work duties to collect WC benefits.

Shortening the Path to Permanency: Before the law changed, there was no specific deadline in the law for an injured worker to reach “maximum medical improvement” (aka MMI). The WC Board will not decide whether an injured worker has had a permanent injury until he has reached MMI. Once permanency has been decided, most injured workers who are classified with a PPD begin to use the set number of future weeks of lost income benefits that they are entitled to collect. For example, an injured worker classified with a 50% PPD is entitled to 300 weeks (5 years and 40 weeks) of lost income benefits from the date of classification.

For workers injured after April 9, 2017, the WC Law will presume that they are at MMI no later than two and one-half years (130 weeks) from the date of their injury. Thus, if an injured worker is not classified with a PPD within two and one-half years from the date of his injury, the insurance carrier may reduce the number of weeks of future lost income benefits that they otherwise would owe the injured worker. For example, an injured worker first classified with a 50% PPD three years (156 weeks) from the date of his injury will “lose” 26 weeks (156-130 = 26) of lost income benefits that they otherwise would have collected in the future.

There is a “safety valve” in the changed law that allows MMI to be delayed beyond two and one-half years from the date of the injury without loss of future benefits. The WC Board will issue further guidance on this safety valve provision in the future.

Other changes may harm injured workers. For example, the WC Board is required to adopt new permanent impairment guidelines by January 1, 2018. If it fails to do so, “interim regulations” will be imposed as of January 2, 2018. We have no insight regarding what changes may occur and how they may affect injured workers.

The WC Board is also required to adopt a drug formulary by December 31, 2017. That formulary will list drugs that may be prescribed without preauthorization for specific work-related conditions and injuries. The formulary will also identify “non-preferred drugs” that may only be prescribed after a variance request is issued and approved. As of now, we do not know what drugs will be pre-approved and which will require preauthorization.

Several other changes have been made regarding extreme hardship determinations, mandatory 45-day hearings (in cases where the injured worker is not receiving benefits and not working), penalties and more. These reforms are not yet fully developed and will be subject to change as time goes on.

Because of these changes and the uncertainty that they present, it is important you talk to us.  Please reach out if you have qustions about how these changes may affect your case.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Filed Under: advice-wc

“To love and to be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.”

— David Viscott

modicalawfirm300

2430 RIDGEWAY AVENUE, ROCHESTER, NY 14626

Phone: 585-368-1111 • Fax: 585-368-1100

ATTORNEY ADVERTISING • Copyright © 2019 — Modica & Associates, Attorneys, PLLC • All rights reserved.     DISCLAIMER    |    CLIENT'S RESPONSIBILITES    |     CLIENT'S RIGHTS