Time for a New LookREPORT URGES MAJOR CHANGES IN NEW YORK’S WORKERS’ COMP SYSTEM AS WORKER BENEFITS PLUMMET AND INSURER PROFITS SKYROCKET
The Center for New York City Affairs at The New School has released a new report outlining the shocking inadequacy of benefits for New York workers who are injured or killed on the job, even as insurance company profits have soared to more than $1 billion each year. In the report, Dr. James A. Parrott and Nicholas B. Martin of, the Center for New York City Affairs, find that over 200,000 New York workers are injured each year and that workplace fatalities, particularly in construction, have soared to the highest level in 20 years. The Center’s report shows New York’s workers’ compensation insurers have been profiting greatly at workers’ expense. Workers’ comp insurance profits were more than $1 billion in 2017 alone. Factoring in investment earnings, insurers retained almost half of the premium dollars paid by employers. Legislative and administrative changes in recent years have eroded the accessibility and value of wage replacement benefits for injured workers. The report recommends that New York improve wage-replacement benefits and access to benefits, particularly for low-wage workers, while requiring new investments in workplace safety. NYWCA recommends the report to all of its members. |
