New York State Temporary State Commission on Workers' Compensation and Disability Benefits Minutes, Hearing and Subject Files

Alphabetical by subject or chronological by date.

The Temporary State Commission on Workers' Compensation and Disability Benefits was established by the Laws of 1983, Chapter 415. Laws of 1985, Chapter 629, extended the Commission's life through 1986. The Legislature directed the Commission to: examine the efficiency of the workers' compensation and disability benefits program; study the adequacy of existing protection to workers suffering from occupational diseases; develop a means of collecting statistics on the disability benefits program; and report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature.

The Commission included representatives of labor unions, insurance companies, and other interested groups, as well as the Commissioner of Labor, the Superintendent of Insurance, and the Chairman of the Workers' Compensation Board (ex officio). Karen Burstein, President of the Civil Service Commission, presided over the Temporary Commission on Workers' Compensation. The Commission met 25 times, held public hearings, sponsored special research studies, and issued a preliminary and a final report.

The Commission's principal mandate was to "examine the efficiency" of the workers' compensation and disability benefits system. This mandate was so broad that the Commission decided to examine more narrowly defined issues: the structure, level, calculation, and coverage of benefits; the operations and costs of the Workers' Compensation Board (particularly administrative and adjudicatory delays); the operations of insurers and the cost of their premiums; and occupational diseases and rehabilitation.

The Commission's final recommendations called for the most thorough restructuring of the workers' compensation and disability system since the program was established in New York in 1914. The Commission's seven major recommendations were as follows: adoption as regulations of uniform medical guidelines for the evaluation of impairments and functional limitations; adoption of a "hybrid" system of benefits; phased elimination of the differential between the statutory maximums for total and partial disability; adoption of an offset of old age social security benefits from permanent disability benefits; increased supplements for recipients of permanent total and death benefits; adoption of flexible minimum benefits equal to 10 percent of the State's average weekly wage; and limitation and continued study of lump sum settlements.

This series contains correspondence, reports, hearing transcripts, meeting minutes, contract documents, clippings, and other published material generated by the Temporary State Commission on Workers' Compensation and Disability Benefits. A significant portion of the series consists of the Commission's public hearing files for hearings held in Buffalo, Albany, New York City, Syracuse, Binghamton, Hempstead, and Rochester; contract files documenting work done for the Commission; and subject files maintained by the Commission on various topics. Correspondence includes letters submitted by individuals who had filed workers' compensation claims, businesses, labor unions, physicians, and other parties. Reports and publications deal with such topics as unemployment insurance, occupational therapy, disability claims, Workers' Compensation Board, and Workers' Compensation Law. Copies of the Commission's published research papers and preliminary and final reports are located in Box 7. (They are also available at the New York State Library.)

Some correspondence may be restricted to protect personal privacy.