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Comp presumption bills filed in New York

Posted On: Mar. 7, 2023 12:12 PM CST

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New York lawmakers have filed a trio of bills relating to presumptive occupational injuries for various state employees including some first responders.

Two of the three measures that were filed on Monday would provide heart and lung disease presumptions for corrections officers and sheriff’s deputies respectively and the third proposal relates to heart disease presumptions for state and local police and firefighters and other state workers.

Assembly Bill 5208 states that any health condition caused by diseases of the heart that is contracted by a correction officer, correction supervisor, deputy sheriff patrol member or deputy sheriff patrol supervisor who is part of the state and local employees’ retirement system shall be considered presumptive evidence that the condition is job-related unless proven otherwise.

Nearly identical information to the heart disease bill is contained within Assembly Bill 5205, which covers lung diseases as a presumptive occupational injury for correction officers, correction supervisors, deputy sheriff patrol officers and deputy sheriff supervisors.

Both measures state that the presumptions are provided as long as the covered employees successfully passed physical examinations prior to hiring that would have disclosed any evidence of disease or other impairments of the heart or lungs.

The third measure, Assembly Bill 5201, says that any state or local police officer or firefighter or any other member of the state and local employees’ retirement system who contracts any illness related to heart disease is presumed to have gotten the disease in the course of their employment duties.    

The presumptions under the measure could only be rebutted by “competent evidence” that the disability was not the result of any job-related duties.

All three bills would amend New York’s retirement and social security law. They were referred to the Assembly Governmental Employees Committee.