RECENT AMENDMENT TO THE WORKERS’ COMPENSATION LAW APPLIES RETROACTIVELY, CLAIMANT WITH A PERMANENT PARTIAL DISABILITY WHO HAS INVOLUNTARILY WITHDRAWN FROM THE LABOR MARKET NEED NOT DEMONSTRATE A CONTINUED ATTACHMENT TO THE LABOR MARKET (THIRD DEPT).

The Third Department determined a recent amendment to the Workers’ Compensation Law applied retroactively and was properly applied to claimant’s case. The amendment provides that a worker who has involuntarily withdrawn from the labor market with a permanent partial disability need not demonstrate a continued attachment to the labor market:

… [T]he Board panel … issued an amended decision finding that claimant was not required to demonstrate an attachment to the labor market based upon a recent amendment to Workers’ Compensation Law § 15 (3) (w) … . That amendment states, in relevant part, that in cases such as claimant’s, “compensation . . . shall be payable during the continuance of such permanent partial disability, without the necessity for the claimant who is entitled to benefits at the time of classification to demonstrate ongoing attachment to the labor market” … ….

… [W]e find that the amendment is applicable here and relieves claimant from the need to demonstrate a continued attachment to the labor market. Although it is generally preferable to construe a statute in a prospective manner, a retroactive application is warranted if the statutory language expressly or by necessary implication so provides … . Matter of O’Donnell v Erie County, 2018 NY Slip Op 04410, Third Dept 6-14-18

​WORKERS’S COMPENSATION LAW (RECENT AMENDMENT TO THE WORKERS’ COMPENSATION LAW APPLIES RETROACTIVELY, CLAIMANT WITH A PERMANENT PARTIAL DISABILITY WHO HAS INVOLUNTARILY WITHDRAWN FROM THE LABOR MARKET NEED NOT DEMONSTRATE A CONTINUED ATTACHMENT TO THE LABOR MARKET (THIRD DEPT))