N.Y. Volunteer Ambulance Workers Benefit Law § 10

Current through 2024 NY Law Chapter 553

Section 10 - Permanent partial disability benefits

1. In the case of disability partial in character, but permanent in quality, the volunteer ambulance worker, injured in the line of duty shall be paid one hundred fifty dollars for each week for the period specified in this subdivision, provided, however, that when the volunteer ambulance worker is injured in the line of duty on or after the effective date of this chapter to and including June thirtieth, nineteen hundred ninety, and provided further that when the volunteer ambulance worker is injured in the line of duty on or after July first, nineteen hundred ninety to and including June thirtieth, nineteen hundred ninety-one such payments shall be two hundred eighty dollars for each week, and provided further that when the volunteer ambulance worker is injured in the line of duty on or after July first, nineteen hundred ninety-one to and including June thirtieth, nineteen hundred ninety-two such payments shall be three hundred fifty dollars for each week; and provided further that when the volunteer ambulance worker is injured in the line of duty on or after July first, nineteen hundred ninety-two such payments shall be four hundred dollars for each week as follows:

a. Loss of member.

Member lost Number of weeks

Arm .................................................... 312

Leg .................................................... 288

Hand ................................................... 244

Foot ................................................... 205

Eye .................................................... 160

Thumb .................................................. 75

First finger ........................................... 46

Great toe .............................................. 38

Second finger .......................................... 30

Third finger ........................................... 25

Toe other than great toe ............................... 16

Fourth finger .......................................... 15 If more than one phalange of a digit shall be lost, the period shall be the same as for the loss of the entire digit. If only the first phalange shall be lost, the period shall be one-half the period for loss of the entire digit. The period for loss or loss of use of two or more digits, or one or more phalanges of two or more digits, of a hand or foot, may be proportioned to the period for the loss of use of the hand or foot occasioned thereby, but shall not exceed the period for the loss of a hand or foot. If an arm or leg shall be amputated at or above the wrist or ankle, the period for such loss shall be in proportion to the period for the loss of the arm or leg. In the case of loss of binocular vision or of eighty per centum or more of the vision of an eye, the period shall be the same as for the loss of the eye.

b. Loss of hearing. In the case of the complete loss of the hearing of one ear, sixty weeks; for the loss of hearing of both ears, one hundred fifty weeks.

c. Total loss of use. In the case of permanent total loss of use of a member, the compensation shall be the same as for the loss of the member.

d. Partial loss or partial loss of use. Except as above provided in this subdivision, in the case of permanent partial loss or loss of use of a member, the period shall be for the proportionate loss or loss of use of the member. Compensation for permanent partial loss of use of an eye shall be awarded on the basis of uncorrected loss of vision or corrected loss of vision resulting from an injury which ever is greater.

e. Disfigurement. In the case of serious facial or head disfigurement, including a disfigurement continuous in length which is partly in the facial area and also extends into the neck region as described in this paragraph, the volunteer ambulance worker shall be paid in a lump sum a proper and equitable amount, which shall be determined by the workers' compensation board. If the earning capacity of the volunteer ambulance worker shall have been impaired, or may in the future be impaired, by any serious disfigurement in the region above the sterno clavicular articulations anterior to and including the region of the sterno cleido mastoid muscles on either side, the volunteer ambulance worker shall be paid in a lump sum a proper and equitable amount which shall be determined by such board. Two or more serious disfigurements, not continuous in length, resulting from the same injury, if partially in the facial area and partially in such neck region, shall be deemed to be a facial disfigurement. An award, or the aggregate of the awards, to a volunteer ambulance worker under this paragraph shall not exceed twenty thousand dollars.

f. Total or partial loss or loss of use of more than one member. In any case in which there shall be a loss or loss of use of more than one member or parts of more than one member set forth above in paragraphs a to e, both inclusive, of this subdivision, but not amounting to permanent total disability, the periods for loss or loss of use of each such member or part thereof shall run consecutively.

g. Other cases. In all other cases of permanent partial disability the volunteer ambulance worker shall be paid for each week, during the continuance thereof, as follows:

(1) If the percentage of loss of earning capacity is seventy-five per centum, or greater, he or she shall be paid one hundred fifty dollars for each week, provided, however, that the volunteer ambulance worker is injured in the line of duty on or after the effective date of this chapter to and including June thirtieth, nineteen hundred ninety, provided, however, that when the volunteer ambulance worker is injured in the line of duty on or after July first, nineteen hundred ninety to and including June thirtieth, nineteen hundred ninety-one such payment shall be two hundred eighty dollars for each week, and provided further that when the volunteer ambulance worker is injured in the line of duty on or after July first, nineteen hundred ninety-one to and including June thirtieth, nineteen hundred ninety-two such payment shall be three hundred fifty dollars for each week; and provided further that when the volunteer ambulance worker is injured in the line of duty on or after July first, nineteen hundred ninety-two such payments shall be four hundred dollars for each week.

(2) If the percentage of loss of earning capacity is fifty per centum, or greater, but less than seventy-five per centum, he or she shall be paid one hundred dollars for each week, provided, however, that the volunteer ambulance worker is injured in the line of duty on or after the effective date of this chapter to and including June thirtieth, nineteen hundred ninety, provided, however, that when the volunteer ambulance worker is injured in the line of duty on or after July first, nineteen hundred ninety to and including June thirtieth, nineteen hundred ninety-one, such payment shall be one hundred eighty-six dollars and seventy-six cents for each week, provided, however, that when the volunteer ambulance worker is injured in the line of duty on or after July first, nineteen hundred ninety-one to and including June thirtieth, nineteen hundred ninety-two, such payment shall be two hundred thirty-four dollars and fifty cents for each week; provided, however, that when the volunteer ambulance worker is injured in the line of duty on or after July first, nineteen hundred ninety-two, such payment shall be two hundred sixty-eight dollars for each week.

(3) If the percentage of loss of earning capacity is twenty-five percentum, or greater, but less than fifty per centum, he or she shall be paid thirty dollars for each week.

(4) If the percentage of loss of earning capacity is less than twenty-five per centum, he or she shall not be paid any weekly benefit.

Permanent partial disability, within the meaning of this paragraph, shall exist only if the earning capacity of the volunteer ambulance worker has been permanently and partially lost as the result of the injury. The workers' compensation board shall determine the degree of such disability and such board may reconsider such degree on its own motion or upon application of any party in interest.

2. An award made to a claimant under this section shall in case of death arising from causes other than the injury be payable to and for the benefit of the persons following:

a. If there be a surviving spouse and no child of the deceased under the age of eighteen years, to such spouse.

b. If there be a surviving spouse and surviving child or children of the deceased under the age of eighteen years, one-half shall be payable to the surviving spouse and the other half to the surviving child or children.

c. If there be a surviving child or children of the deceased under the age of eighteen years, but no surviving spouse, then to such child or children.

d. If there be no surviving spouse and no surviving child or children of the deceased under the age of eighteen years, then to such dependent or dependents as defined in section seven of this article, as directed by the workers' compensation board; and if there shall be no such dependents, then to the estate of such deceased in an amount not exceeding reasonable funeral expenses as provided in subdivision one of section seven of this article, or, if there be no estate, to the person or persons paying the funeral expenses of such deceased in an amount not exceeding reasonable funeral expenses as provided in such subdivision one.

3. An award for disability may be made after the death of the volunteer ambulance worker.

N.Y. Volunteer Ambulance Workers Benefit § 10