Activists Protest Proposed WCB Changes to Impairment Rating Method

Friday, October 20, 2017 | 0

Groups of workers' advocates have continued to pressure the state Workers' Compensation Board to not adopt rules that would change how impairment ratings are decided — a move, they say, that would reduce benefits.

Charlene Obernauer

The Albany Times-Union reported Wednesday that activists in Buffalo, Brooklyn, Hauppauge and Long Island were set to submit "thousands of petitions" to their local Workers' Compensation Board offices, as well as to the board's headquarters in Menands.

The New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health has come out strongly against the proposed rules, which are in the public comment period. The group has created a graphic that it says explains what would happen if the "business-first guidelines" were adopted.

Its executive director, Charlene Obernauer, provided the quote whose sentiment activists have adopted: "New Yorkers deserve better than to have their benefits taken away." 

Lev Ginsburg, director of government affairs for the Business Council of New York State, has called the NYCOSH graphic "misinformation." The Business Council is a major supporter of changing the way benefits are calculated.