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.
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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.
L. 1913, Ch. 816; L. 1945, Ch. 74; L. 1949, Ch. 600; L. 1951, Ch. 788; L. 1956, Ch. 696; L. 1996, Ch. 635.
