Workers' compensation reform sought

Senator George D. Maziarz, Chairman of the Senate Labor Committee, announced that he will meet with labor and business community leaders to determine why New York state's workers' compensation system is broken and how it can be fixed. Maziarz will seek guidance and input for how lawmakers can change state policies to stop the exodus of quality manufacturing jobs from New York.

A roundtable discussion will take place on Monday, March 13 at 11 a.m. in Albany. "Labor and business cannot afford to be competing interests," Maziarz said. "We need to find common ground to reform a broken system, because divided we fall. This is the top legislative priority for myself and the Senate Majority in 2006. By reforming the system we can implement cost savings measures for businesses and bring about the first benefit increase in 14 years."

Maziarz said the state must take a serious look in the mirror and see friends and family moving away, and must realize that there should be no interest but keeping jobs here. "We want to hear what the labor and business leaders have to say, and then we need to come up with solutions. Hopefully, their input will lead to sweeping changes that bring about substantial reform. It's time to strike a new balance and save jobs," he said.

"New York is known as a high cost-low benefit state. That means the cost of workers' compensation insurance is high and yet the individual benefit payments to workers are low," Maziarz said. "We need to figure out why that is and what we can do about it. The high cost-low benefit model doesn't help businesses and it doesn't help workers."

There has been no increase in the maximum benefit payment since 1992 and the most recent modifications to the system occurred in 1996.

January 22, 2006