This case presents the question whether an amendment to the Workers’ Compensation Law (WCL) applies retroactively to workers adjudged to have a permanent partial disability before the amendment’s effective date.
Under the WCL, a worker who sustains a permanent partial disability will be entitled to compensation for their loss of earning capacity, either through a “schedule loss of use” award or a “non-schedule loss” award. A worker who received a non-schedule award was historically required to show “labor-market attachment,” i.e., that his or her loss of earning capacity was due to the injury and not a voluntary decision to leave the labor market. See Matter of Zamora v New York Neurologic Assoc., 19 N.Y.3d 186 (2012). In 2017, however, the Legislature amended the WCL to eliminate the requirement that a worker with a permanent partial disability demonstrate labor-market attachment. See 2017 N.Y. Laws ch. 59 pt. NNN § 1 subpt. A § 1(w).
In this case, petitioner sustained an injury in 2010 and retired from work in 2013. In 2015, the Workers’ Compensation Board determined that petitioner had a permanent partial disability and awarded her benefits. Petitioner’s employer sought reconsideration on the ground that the Board had improperly failed to require petitioner to demonstrate labor-market attachment, and the Board issued an amended determination finding that petitioner was excused from showing labor-market attachment under the 2017 amendments to the WCL.
The Third Department confirmed the Board’s determination. The court noted that, while a retroactive application of statutes was generally disfavored, the court would apply provisions retroactively where the Legislature clearly intended a retroactive application, especially for remedial statutes like the WCL. And here, the court found that the Legislature clearly intended the amendment to apply to cases where the disability-generating injury occurred before the amendment’s passage.
The Court of Appeals granted leave.
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