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Labor, Department of
Functions
Workers' compensation insurance provides weekly cash payments and the cost of full medical treatment, including rehabilitation, for covered employees who become disabled as a result of a disease or injury connected with their employment. It also provides payments for qualified dependents of a worker who dies from a compensable injury or illness.
In administering this program, the Workers' Compensation Board receives and processes workers' claims for benefits, employers' reports of injury, and medical reports from physicians and other health care providers. The board adjudicates and resolves all issues and makes awards and findings as rapidly as possible to ensure that an entitled claimant receives benefits and medical treatment promptly. Hearings are conducted before law judges or, on review or appeal, before panels of three board members.
The supplementary responsibilities of the Workers' Compensation Program include the authorization and rating of physicians to treat compensation cases, licensing of medical bureaus, and the arbitration of disputed medical and hospital bills. The board also processes applications for self-insurance of corporate entities and political subdivisions and supervises and controls their performance.
History
The Workmen's Compensation Commission was established under the Workmen's Compensation Act of 1913 (Chapter 816), requiring employers to compensate employees disabled by industrial accidents or occupational diseases. Employers subject to the provisions of the Workmen's Compensation Act were required to establish a self-insurance program, to provide disability insurance through a commercial carrier, or to contribute to the State Insurance Fund, which was also established in 1913. The commission, comprised of five gubernatorial appointees and the commissioner of labor, administered the law, including arbitration of claims settlements between employers and employees, and collection, maintenance, and distribution of the State Insurance Fund.
The Workmen's Compensation Commission was abolished in 1915 and the five-member Industrial Commission, which began heading the newly reorganized Department of Labor, assumed its responsibilities. When the department was again reorganized in 1921, an industrial commissioner, responsible for administration of the State Insurance Fund, replaced the Industrial Commission and a three-member Industrial Board reviewed all compensation cases.
In 1945 (Chapter 74), responsibility for review of workers' compensation cases was transferred from the Industrial Board to a Workmen's Compensation Board located within the Department of Labor. This board, renamed the Workers' Compensation Board in 1971, is comprised of thirteen gubernatorial appointees, one of whom is named by the governor as chair. Since 1945 the board has administered and adjudicated claims for the steadily expanding coverage required by law to be provided to workers. The 1949 Disability Benefits Law (Chapter 600) provided for benefits for workers suffering disabilities resulting from non-occupational injuries or illnesses. The 1951 Workmen's Compensation Act for Civil Defense Volunteers (Chapter 788) and the 1956 Volunteer Firefighters' Benefit Law (Chapter 696) provided for coverage for these volunteer workers. As of January 1, 1989, the Volunteer Ambulance Workers' Benefit Law provided cash payments for all volunteer ambulance workers injured in the line of duty and for all necessary medical care. The board began its vocational rehabilitation program for injured workers in 1959. By 1962, all employers, including single-employee firms, were required to provide workers' compensation and disability benefits protection.
Legislation enacted in 1996 (Chapter 635) classified workers' compensation fraud as a felony and created the office of Workers' Compensation Inspector General within the board to conduct investigations and work with the State Attorney General and district attorneys to prosecute appropriate cases. The 1996 legislation, known as the New York State Employment, Safety and Security Act, also and improved delivery of services to injured workers with new provisions that reduced required paperwork and encouraged simple cases to be settled outside the frequently time-consuming workers' compensation hearing process.
In the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the Workers Compensation Board created a special affidavit form that enabled victims' families to provide basic case information, resolve claim issues, and begin receiving benefits without ever having to testify in person before the board. More than 1,900 World Trade Center claimants utilized the affidavit form, which the board later incorporated into its standard business process. In 2003, the board implemented administrative measures to process claims and provide benefits to individuals sustaining injuries or illnesses related to voluntary emergency assistance provided at the World Trade Center site or at the Staten Island Landfill in the aftermath of the attacks.
Legal Citations
L. 1913, Ch. 816; L. 1945, Ch. 74; L. 1949, Ch. 600; L. 1951, Ch. 788; L. 1956, Ch. 696; L. 1996, Ch. 635.
Functions
The Department of Labor is responsible for enforcing the State Labor Law and the rules and regulations issued to protect, assist, and educate the work force. The department executes the State's labor statutes which were designed to improve working conditions; broaden employment opportunities through a statewide employment service; ensure payment of wages and fringe benefits to construction workers and certain service employees on State or municipal work; provide unemployment, workers' compensation, and disability benefits; foster peaceful labor-management relations; protect the health and safety of public and certain other employees; and encourage development of sound apprenticeship training programs.
The department conducts research into labor problems; compiles, analyzes, and disseminates statistics and other information regarding its activities; and appoints boards or committees needed to help execute State labor policy.
History
New York State's official involvement in labor issues began in 1883 when the Bureau of Labor Statistics was created (Chapter 356) to gather information and prepare an annual statistical report on the State's labor force. The State began regulatory activity in labor and industrial affairs in 1886 (Chapter 409) with the establishment of the Office of Factory Inspector (expanded to the Department of Factory Inspection in 1887) to enforce laws regulating the employment of children in factories, and the Board of Mediation and Arbitration, to assist in the settlement of labor disputes.
These three units were combined in 1901 (Chapter 9) to form the Department of Labor, headed by a commissioner. Two new divisions, the Bureau of Mercantile Inspection and the Bureau of Industries and Immigration, were added to the department in 1909.
The independent office of State fire marshal was established in 1911 (Chapter 451) to enforce laws relating to prevention of fires, use of combustibles and explosives, and availability of fire alarms and fire extinguishers. This office also conducted inspections of steam boilers, regulated fire escapes, and investigated causes of fires.
In 1913 (Chapter 145), the Industrial Board, consisting of the commissioner of labor as chair and four gubernatorial appointees, was created within the Department of Labor to issue and interpret rules and regulations known as Industrial Code Rules. These rules established standards for the health and safety of employees. Another 1913 law created an independent Workmen's Compensation Commission to ensure payment of compensation to disabled employees and set up the State Insurance Fund, administered by the commission, to insure employers against liability.
A law of 1915 (Chapter 674) reorganized the Department of Labor, replacing the commissioner of labor with a five-member Industrial Commission appointed by the governor. The commission headed the Department of Labor and assumed responsibilities formerly exercised by the Industrial Board, the Workmen's Compensation Commission, and the State fire marshal, which were abolished. In addition, an Industrial Council composed of ten gubernatorial appointees was created to provide advice to the Industrial Commission.
Another reorganization in 1921 (Chapter 50) replaced the Industrial Commission with a single industrial commissioner and established a three-member Industrial Board to issue, amend, and interpret the Industrial Code Rules and to review and determine claims in workers' compensation cases. This departmental structure was reestablished by law in the 1925-26 reorganization of State government.
Labor legislation of 1935 and 1936, including the Unemployment Insurance Law of 1935 (Chapter 468), providing for payment of benefits to eligible unemployed workers, resulted in additional restructuring. A Division of Unemployment Insurance was established within the department to administer the Unemployment Insurance Law. The department's jurisdiction in workers' compensation matters was extended to cover occupational diseases. Its regulatory powers over industrial homework were expanded to the entire State (formerly its jurisdiction was confined to cities of over 200,000 people).
Several laws of 1937 changed the administrative structure of the department. A newly established Board of Standards and Appeals assumed the functions of the Industrial Board in regard to industrial code matters, and the Industrial Board became concerned exclusively with workers' compensation matters. A Labor Relations Board was established to supervise labor-management relations, and a State Board of Mediation was set up to mediate settlements in labor disputes.
In 1938 the State Insurance Fund was removed from the direct administrative jurisdiction of the industrial commissioner, who continued to serve as an ex officio member of the newly created Board of Commissioners of the State Insurance Fund. An Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board was established in 1944 to hear appeals from claimants or employers dissatisfied with departmental administrative determinations under the unemployment insurance programs mandated by 1935 and subsequent legislation.
In 1945 the Industrial Board was replaced by a ten-member Workmen's Compensation Board, which was renamed the Workers' Compensation Board in 1971. The Board of Standards and Appeals was renamed the Industrial Board of Appeals in 1971. The department administers certain programs under federal legislation, such as the Job Training Partnership Act of 1983, which provides localities with federal funds for employment training.
