STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1677 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 10, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. REYES -- read once and referred to the Committee on Labor AN ACT to amend the workers' compensation law, in relation to claims for mental injury premised upon extraordinary work-related stress; and to amend a chapter of the laws of 2024 amending the workers' compensation law relating to claims for mental injury premised upon extraordinary work-related stress, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 6635 and A. 5745, in relation to the effectiveness thereof The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 3 of section 10 of the work- 2 ers' compensation law, as amended by a chapter of the laws of 2024 3 amending the workers' compensation law relating to claims for mental 4 injury premised upon extraordinary work-related stress, as proposed in 5 legislative bills numbers S. 6635 and A. 5745, is amended and two new 6 paragraphs (c) and (d) are added to read as follows: 7 (b) Where a [worker] police officer or firefighter subject to section 8 thirty of this article, or emergency medical technician, paramedic, or 9 other person certified to provide medical care in emergencies, or emer- 10 gency dispatcher files a claim for mental injury premised upon extraor- 11 dinary work-related stress incurred [at work] in a work-related emergen- 12 cy, the board may not disallow the claim upon a factual finding that the 13 stress was not greater than that which usually occurs in the normal work 14 environment. 15 (c) The board may not disallow a claim by a covered employee upon a 16 factual finding that the stress was not greater than that which usually 17 occurs in the normal work environment where a claim for post-traumatic 18 stress disorder (PTSD), acute stress disorder or major depressive disor- 19 der resulting from work-related stress is filed upon submission of 20 medical evidence based on the criteria contained in the version of the 21 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in effect on the EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02831-01-5
A. 1677 2 1 date of accident, or as otherwise adopted by the board, provided that 2 such adoption shall be no more stringent than the current or immediately 3 preceding version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental 4 Disorders. Such covered employee must demonstrate that such disorder 5 arose out of extraordinary work-related stress attributable to a 6 distinct work-related event or events directly related to the employment 7 and occurring during the performance of the employee's job duties. 8 (d) Nothing in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this subdivision shall apply 9 to a claim for mental injury due to a work-related physical injury. 10 § 2. Section 2 of a chapter of the laws of 2024 amending the workers' 11 compensation law relating to claims for mental injury premised upon 12 extraordinary work-related stress, as proposed in legislative bills 13 numbers S. 6635 and A. 5745, is amended to read as follows: 14 § 2. This act shall take effect on the [first of January next succeed- 15 ing the date on which] one hundred eightieth day after it shall have 16 become a law. 17 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that 18 section one of this act shall take effect on the same date and in the 19 same manner as a chapter of the laws of 2024 amending the workers' 20 compensation law relating to claims for mental injury premised upon 21 extraordinary work-related stress, as proposed in legislative bills 22 numbers S. 6635 and A. 5745, takes effect.