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The Executive Committee of the Special Funds consists
of five voting members, one each to represent
the stock carriers, the mutual carriers, the State
Insurance Fund, the New York Compensation Insurance
Rating Board and self-insurers. There are also
three non-voting advisory members representing
the American Insurance Association, the New York
State Insurance Association and the Alliance of
American Insurers.
Special Funds Conservation Committee occupies
a unique niche in New York claims environment:
- The Special Funds Conservation Committee's administrative
budget is funded through assessments against New
York's carriers and self-insurers. Insurance carriers
and self-insured customers expect and receive
fair, equitable and efficient claim handling service
with their C-251/C-251.1 Submission for Reimbursement
requests.
- Special Funds Conservation Committee acts as
the insurance carrier for claims that are established
under 25-a of the Workers' Compensation Law. Thus,
claimants are also customers and are entitled
to prompt and fair payment of benefits as well
as expeditious resolution of their claims.
The following
excerpts are taken from the Workers' Compensation
Special Funds Study Commission's Report to the
Governor.
Special
Disability Fund, a.k.a. the Second Injury Fund:
"The
Second Injury Fund is responsible for reimbursing
carriers for all payments properly paid pursuant
to Section 15(8) and Section 14(6) of the Workers'
Compensation Law:
Second
injuries-Where an employee with a "permanent
physical impairment" incurs a subsequent
disability as a result of a work-related injury
or occupational disease which results in a permanent
disability caused by both conditions combined
greater than what would have resulted from the
second injury or occupational disease alone, the
employer or carrier is reimbursed from the Special
Disability Fund for all benefits after the first
260 weeks of disability. (Reimbursement is after
the first 104 weeks of disability where the date
of accident or disability was before August 1,
1994.) WCL Section 15-8(d). Further, if a second
injury results in the employee's death and either
the injury or death would not have occurred except
for the pre-existing permanent condition, the
employer or carrier shall be reimbursed from the
Special Disability Fund for all death benefits
payable in excess of 260 weeks (or 104 weeks for
accidents or disablements before August 1, 1994).
WCL Section 15(8)(e).
Silicosis
or other dust diseases- If an employee is
disabled or dies from silicosis or other dust
disease, the employer or carrier is reimbursed
by the Special Disability Fund for all benefits
after the first 260 weeks of disability or death
benefits. (For accidents or disablements before
August 1, 1994, reimbursement is after the first
104 weeks.) It is not required that the employee
had any previous physical condition or disability.
WCL Section 15(8)(ee).
Concurrent
employment- Where an injured employee is concurrently
engaged in more than one employment at the time
of injury, the employer in whose employment the
employee was injured pays the full compensation
rate and is reimbursed by the Special Disability
Fund for the additional benefits resulting from
the employee's increased average weekly wage due
to concurrent employment. WCL Section 14(6), Section
15(8)(l).
As
per the Workers' Compensation history of the Fund,
"the Special Disability Fund was created
in 1916, but at that time it only applied in very
limited situations. As background, in 1915, the
Court of Appeals held that an employee who had
previously lost a hand became entitled, upon the
loss of the remaining hand in a work-related accident,
to compensation for permanent total disability
instead of just a schedule award for the loss
of the second hand. Claim of Schwab v. Emporium
F. Co., 216 N.Y. 712 (1915). In response to the
Schwab case, in 1915 the legislature amended WCL
Section 15 to provide that an employee shall only
receive compensation for an injury when considered
by itself and not together with any previous disability.
However,
the next year, 1916, the legislature further amended
WCL 15 to create what eventually became the Special
Disability Fund and to provide for a limited situation
whereby a claimant's prior disability could be
considered together with a new injury: where the
claimant previously incurred permanent partial
disability through the loss of one hand, arm,
foot, leg or eye and then incurs permanent total
disability through the loss of another member
or organ, after the cessation of schedule award
payments for the loss of the second member, the
claimant shall be paid a special additional compensation
for the remainder of claimant's life of 66 2/3%
of claimant's average weekly wage. This special
additional compensation was to be paid out of
the newly created special fund. The amended statute
provided that this special fund was to be funded
by carriers paying the state treasurer $100 for
death cases in which there was no persons entitled
to compensation.
Expansion
of Disability Fund at the time of World War II:
Following its creation in 1916, there were no
significant legislative changes involving this
special funds until 1944, when c. 686 of the Laws
of 1944 was enacted, which was in initial attempt
to establish the Special Disability Fund as we
know it today. The 1944 Act amended WCL Section
15 to greatly expand this fund to help returning
World War II veterans and other partially disabled
persons. However, there were many problems with
this 1944 Act, such as insufficient funding for
the new provisions and an unreliable method of
payments to claimants.
In
1945, the legislature repealed the 1944 legislation
and enacted a new, more carefully drawn Subdivision
8 to WCL Section 15. The 1945 Act contains a declaration
of policy and legislative intent that was placed
in Section 15(8)(a) and remains in the statute
today:
(a)
Declaration of policy and legislative intent.
As a guide to the interpretation and application
of this subdivision, the policy and intent of
this legislature is declared to be as follows:
First:
That every person in this state who works for
a living is entitled to a reasonable opportunity
to maintain his independence and self-respect
through self-support even after he has been
physically handicapped by injury or disease;
Second: That any plan which will reasonably,
equitably and practically operate to break down
hindrances and remove obstacles to the employment
of partially disabled persons honorably discharged
from our armed forces or any other physically
handicapped persons, is of vital importance
to the state and its people and is of concern
to this legislature;
Third:
That it is the considered judgment of this legislature
that the system embodied in this subdivision,
which makes a logical and equitable adjustment
of the liability under the workmen's compensation
law, which an employer must assume in hiring employees,
constitutes a practical and reasonable approach
to a solution of the problem for the employment
of physically handicapped persons.
Pursuant
to the 1945 law, if an employee who has a permanent
physical impairment incurs a subsequent disability
by accident arising out of or in the course of
employment or an occupational disease. A resulting
in a permanent disability caused by both conditions
that is materially and substantially greater than
that which would result from the subsequent injury
or occupational disease alone, the employer or
carrier shall be reimbursed from the Special Disability
Fund for all compensation and medical benefits
subsequent to those payable for the first 104
weeks of disability. (The current law provides
that for claims made after August 1, 1994, reimbursement
is after the first 260 weeks of disability.)
The
purpose of the 1945 bill is described in a memorandum
dated April 16, 1945 from Chair Mary Donlon of
the Workers' Compensation Board to the Counsel
of Governor Thomas E. Dewey:
This bill amends and improves legislation enacted
in 1944 to encourage the employment of disabled
veterans and others who are physically handicapped,
by transferring part of the cost of workers'
compensation to a special fund.
This
bill should stimulate the employment of disabled
veterans and other handicapped persons, by removing
all grounds for discrimination save only qualification
of the individual for the work to be done. Wartime
experience has shown that disabled persons have
compensation abilities and attitudes, which
for special tasks, counter-balance their handicaps
and make them desirable employees.
This
bill will protect employers from disproportionate
workmen's compensation costs by providing a
special fund to absorb that part of the compensation
payments, which are attributable to the previous
permanent physical impairment of a worker. Thus
a serious handicap of disabled persons is removed
at a time when returning veterans need this
important help in developing their employment
opportunities.
With
regard to providing adequate finding for the Special
Disability Fund, a memorandum from the Superintendent
of Insurance to Governor Dewey dated April 2,
1945 describes the difference in assessment method
between the 1945 bill and the 1944 legislation:
The bill provides that the Second Injury Fund
shall take over the existing Fund and assume its
liabilities. Under present subdivision 8 the revenue
of the Fund is derived from payments by employers
and their insurance carriers at the rate of $500
for each non-dependent death case. The amendment
provides a more substantial amount of revenue
of the Fund and a definite means of replenishing
it by requiring an initial assessment upon insurance
carriers, including the State Insurance and self-insurers,
of 1% of their total compensation payments of
the year previous, and each year thereafter an
assessment in an amount representing their proportionate
share of the total disbursements made from the
Fund in the preceding year.
With
regard to obtaining support for the bill, in a
letter May 11, 1945 from the General Manager of
the Compensation Insurance Rating Board to the
Governor's counsel, the writer offered the following
suggestion: May I offer the thought that wide
publicity at this particular time of the talk
of returning veterans might be helpful.
The
1945 legislation also included a provision which
allows the Chair of the Workers' Compensation
Board to appoint the attorney for the Special
Funds Conservation Committee (SFCC) to represent
the Special Disability Fund when a claim is made
against the fund, although the provision does
not specifically name the SFCC. WCL Section 15(8)(i).
Silicosis
and Other Dust Diseases: In 1947, Section
15(8) was amended to provided that in cases where
the claimant is disabled by silicosis or other
dust diseases, employers and carriers shall be
reimbursed from the Special Disability Fund for
all compensation and medical benefits subsequent
to those payable for the first 104 weeks of disability
(now 260 weeks). WCL Section 15(8)(ee). This provision
does not require that the employee had any previous
physical condition or disability, which may result
in total disability or death. With this legislation,
a new paragraph was added to the Declaration of
policy and intent in Section 15(8)(a):
Moreover, because of the insidious nature of
slowly developing diseases such as silicosis
and other dust diseases and because of the reluctance
on the part of employers to employ persons previously
exposed to silica or other harmful dust, means
should also be provided whereby employers will
be encouraged to employ and to continue the
employment of such persons, by apportioning
liability fairly between the employer and industry
as a whole without at the same time removing
any incentive for the prevention of harmful
dust diseases.
Concurrent
Employment. Prior to 1985, if an injured employee
had two or more jobs, the wages for the employment
in which the injury occurred were used to determine
average weekly wage in order to calculate compensation
benefits. The wages from any concurrent employment
could only be considered in the calculation of
average weekly wage if the concurrent employment
was found to be similar to the employment in which
the injury occurred.
In
1985, the legislature amended the Workers' Compensation
Law to provide the average weekly wage includes
all concurrent employment, not just similar employment.
WCL Section 14(6). Amendments to Section 15(8)
and 14 further provided that the employer or carrier
would be reimbursed from the Special Disability
Fund for the extra amount of compensation, above
what it would have paid if just its own employment
was considered for average weekly wage.
The
purpose of this 1985 legislation was described
in a July 1, 1985 letter from Barbara Deinhardt,
then General Counsel of the Workers' Compensation
Board, to the Counsel to Governor Cuomo:
The
existing law can be extremely harsh for an employee
who is injured while working in a low-paying,
part-time job and who becomes disabled from
his or her full-time job as well. Unless the
employments are similar in nature, the employee
will receive no compensation for the wages he
or she loses from the full-time employment.
A disabled worker under these circumstances
may receive benefits in an amount that bears
no relation to his or her total loss of wages,
and which is far too low for the employee to
live on. This is contrary to a basic premise
of the Workers' Compensation Law, which is to
compensate disabled workers for two-thirds of
the wages lost due to an accident on the job.
This proposal provides that the employer will
be liable for the exact same amount of benefits
for which it would have been liable if the injured
employee had no other employment. The additional
benefits, if any, will be the liability of the
Special Disability Fund, thereby spreading the
cost of additional benefits among all employers.
At a minimal cost to employers as a whole, workers
who have more than one job will be adequately
protected under the law. It should also be mentioned
that a growing number of other states combine
earnings from all employments.
Knowledge
of employer not necessary. In 1987, the Workers'
Compensation Law was amended to provide that an
employer does not have to have knowledge of an
employee's pre-existing injury or condition in
order to be entitled to reimbursement from the
Special Disability Fund when the employee becomes
disabled following a work related injury or occupational
disease.
The
purpose of this amendment was described by the
bill's sponsor, Senator Walter J. Floss, Jr.,
in a letter to the Governor's Counsel dated July
8, 1987:
Case
law required employers to have had knowledge of
an employee's pre-existing physical impairment
before the second injury fund could be used. On
the other hand, employers are forbidden by the
State Civil Rights Law from inquiring about a
prospective employee's pre-existing physical disabilities.
Since it is a primary purpose of a second injury
fund to encourage employers to hire persons with
disabilities, this complication in using the fund
should be removed. That is the purpose of this
bill.
However,
in a letter to the Governor's Counsel dated July
15, 1987, then General Counsel Gladys Carrion
of the Workers' Compensation Board stated that
the bill changed the purpose the Second Injury
Fund.
The
bill changes the purpose of the Section from one
that encourages the hiring of partially disabled
or handicapped persons to one that enables insurance
carriers to shift the burden of full liability
in certain cases from their shoulder and place
it on the Second Injury Fund, whether or not the
employer had knowledge of a pre-existing permanent
physical impairment. We have no objection to the
purpose of this proposal, as it will help carriers
by removing an important barrier to second injury
fund relief and eliminate a source of much litigation.
We
have a problem with the manner in which the bill
has been drafted. Since the bill will no longer
encourage an employer to hire permanently disabled
workers or continue such a worker in employment
after obtaining knowledge of a permanent impairment…we
believe that technically the bill is defective.
It should amend section 15(8) to remove the currently
existing prologue to section 15(8), which is part
of the law. The Declaration of policy and legislative
intent should be omitted from the law.
In
any case, the 1987 legislation eliminating the
employer knowledge requirement was enacted and
the prologue describing the 1945 legislature's
intent regarding Section 15(8) remains in the
statue.
Apportionment
provision added. In 1992, subdivision (d)
of WCL Section 15(8) was amended to add a provision
regarding apportionment of liability between the
Special Disability Fund, carriers, self-insures
or employers:
Notwithstanding
anything to the contrary in this chapter, there
may be apportionment of liability for the special
disability fund under this subdivision within
a single claim by disposition between the fund,
carriers, self-insurers or employers.
The
purpose of this legislation was explained in the
support memorandum of the Worker's Compensation
Board, which states in part:
In
order to forestall litigation and insure some
reimbursement out of the Special Funds, employers
and carriers are often willing to stipulate
to accept a lesser amount of reimbursement than
the post-104 weeks limit set forth under Workers'
Compensation Law Section 15(8) in return for
a concession of liability on the part of Special
Funds. This is accomplished either by having
the carrier agree to accept a percentage of
reimbursement for all payments beyond two years
or having the carrier agree not to file its
first reimbursement request until something
beyond the two-year period. Such agreements
have apparently been fairly common in the past,
but have been brought to the Board's attention
recently due to emphasis being placed upon the
need for law judges to spell out stipulations
of the parties on the record and incorporate
them into Board decisions.
In practical terms, it is clear that these agreements
will continue to take place, with or without
the Board's knowledge and approval… Given
that such arrangements are virtually a fact
of life, it would appear preferable to have
them spelled out on the record, where everyone
can be fully aware of the terms and conditions
underlying Board awards, and settlements. Better
yet would be the passage of this proposal to
statutorily authorize the making of such agreements.
Furthermore, the entering by the Second Injury
Fund into stipulating with carriers in 15(8)
cases or in lump sum settlement involving Section
15(8) has no effect whatsoever on a claimant's
right to workers' compensation benefits.
1996
Legislation. In 1996, the Legislature changed
the 104-week criteria for the trigger of payment
from the Special Disability Fund to 260 weeks
(from two years to five years), effective for
accidents occurring on or after August 1, 1994.
There was also a change in the assessment of carriers,
and self-insured employers from 175% of the previous
year's disbursements to 150%. Additional changes
were made to the assessment method in 1999.
The Special Disability Fund is administered by
the Workers' Compensation Board and is represented
in claims against the fund by the Special Funds
Conservation Committee. The Commissioner of Taxation
and Finance is the custodian of the Special Disability
Fund and disbursements from such fund shall be
made by the commissioner of taxation and finance
upon vouchers signed by the chairman of the workers'
compensation board. WCL Section 15(8)(h)."
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Fund for Reopened Cases:
Special
Funds acts as the insurance carrier for those
claims that are the liability of the Fund for
Reopened Cases under Section 25a of the Workers'
Compensation Law.
The history
of this fund is detailed below and the following
quotes are excerpted from material provided by
the Governors' Special Commission on Special Funds:
"The
Special Fund for Reopened Cases, created in Section
25-a of the Workers' Compensation Law, provides:
- Direct
payment to claimants and health care providers
for cases reopened after 7 years from the date
of injury or death and 3 years from the date
of the last payment of compensation
- Reimbursement
to employers or carriers for supplemental benefits
paid to increase old benefit rates made obsolete
by inflation
- Reimbursement
to employers or carriers for 1999 retroactive
increases to volunteer firefighter and volunteer
ambulance worker benefits
Creation
of Fund. The Special Fund for Reopened Cases
(WCL Section 25-a) was created in 1933 in conjunction
with the elimination of a three-year time limit
on the reclassification of disabilities. As background,
as the result of a 1927 amendment to the Workers'
Compensation Law, a case could not be reclassified
unless it was done within one year from the date
of accident. (WCL Section 15-6-a, Laws of 1927;
Schaefer v. Buffalo Steel Car Co., 250 NY 507,
166 NE 183 (1929).) In 1931, this time period
was increased to three years. According to the
then Attorney General, the three-year time limit
on reclassification caused hardship to claimants
whose conditions worsened after three years:
It has been our experience, from time to time,
that an award is based on a particular classification
of injury and later it develops the injury really
belongs in another classification. This results,
many times, in injustice to injured workmen.
The purpose of Senate Int. 1627 is to give the
Industrial Board wider discretionary power to
reclassify a disability "at any time without
regard to the date of accident," upon proof
that there has been a change in condition or that
the previous classification was erroneous and
not in the interest of justice. Under the present
law the Board could do this only within three
years from the date of accident. (Emphasis in
original.)
Memorandum for Governor Herbert H. Lehman
from Attorney General John J. Bennett, Jr.,
Dated April 20, 1933
However, the elimination of the reclassification
time limit would make it difficult for employers
and carriers to ascertain definitely their liability
for compensation cases. (Letter to Governor from
American Car and Foundry Co., dated April 19,
1933.)
Therefore,
when the legislature eliminated the reclassification
time limit in 1933, it also created a new special
fund to which liability would be shifted for cases
that were reopened beyond certain time periods.
The dual purpose of the 1933 legislation was reviewed
in an April 20, 1940 memorandum to Governor Lehman
from his counsel, Nathan R. Sobel:
Prior
to 1931, the law provided that no case could
be reclassified after one year. In 1931 we extended
this period for three years.
It
is very evident that any such provision in our
law was entirely unjust. No doctor could determine
within so short a period whether the injury
was going to be permanent or only partial. This
was particularly true in tuberculosis cases,
etc.
Therefore,
in 1933 we abolished any limitation and provided
that a compensation case be reclassified at
any time. However, this change in the law made
it very difficult for the insurer to established
adequate reserves. For that reason the fund
for reopened cases was established. Any person
who had his case reclassified after seven years
from the original injury would look to the fund
instead of the insurer for his compensation.
When Section 25-a was enacted in 1933, it used
the same passage of time criteria currently in
the statute today for the shifting of liability
to Special Fund for Reopened Cases-reopened 7
years from the date of accident and 3 years from
the date of the last payment. To fund this new
Rehabilitation Fund created under Section 15(9)
and for employers or carriers to pay $300 into
the Special Fund for Reopened Cases for every
nondependent death case.
Early
Insolvency and Attempts to Remedy. By 1938,
the Special Fund for Reopened Cases was insolvent,
and the representatives of industry and insurance
carriers agreed to $150,000 special assessment
to cover the shortfall in the fund, with the understanding
that a study be made to indicate what would be
necessary to insure a solvent fund. (Supporting
Memorandum of Frieda S. Miller, Industrial Commissioner,
in bill jacket to L. 1940, c.686, undated.)
During 1939, cases charged against the 25-a fund
were studied by a committee representing labor,
industry, insurance carriers and the Superintendent
of Insurance. Id. Also in 1939, legislation was
enacted which included the $150,000 assessment
referred to above and which amended Subdivision
5 of WCL Section 25-a to give the Chair of the
Workers' Compensation Board the power to appoint
the Special Funds Conservation Committee to represent
the Special Fund for Reopened Cases. The counsel
to Governor Lehman explained this latter provision
in an April 7, 1939 memorandum to the governor:
Some
minor changes are also made in the bill for
representation by the Fund in connection with
the appeal of such 7 years old cases. Formerly
a representative of the carrier, which originally
insured the employer, handled the appeal. Now
the Fund is permitted to appoint a special attorney
whose compensation shall be paid out of such
fund.
Further information on the establishment of the
SFCC in 1938 was provided in a May 20, 1991 letter
to the Workers' Compensation Board from Morris
N. Lissauer, attorney for the SFCC:
The Special Funds Conservation Committee was established
in 1938. Prior to that time the Second Injury
Fund (15(8)) and the Reopened Cases Fund were
insolvent on an actuarial basis. The investigations
of the claims against the two funds were carried
out by the individual carrier or self-insurer
involved, leading many to believe that this was
the cause of the financial conditions of the Funds.
The genesis of the idea for a Special Funds Conservation
Committee, to conserve the assets of the Second
Injury Fund and the Fund for the Reopened Cases,
originated at a meeting of the Medical and Claims
Committee of the Compensation Insurance Rating
Board.
The General Manager of the Rating Board was
authorized to appoint an advisory committee
comprised of representatives of stock and mutual
carriers and the State Insurance Fund. This
advisory committee was to meet with a representative
of the Self Insurers Association. As a result
of these meetings, the Special Funds Conservation
Committee was organized and Rules of Procedure
adopted.
According to Mr. Lissauer's 1991 letter, on September
16, 1938, the Industrial Board adopted a resolution,
which stated in part:
RESOLVED, that the Industrial Board hereby expresses
itself in favor of the proposed plan submitted
by Mr. Leon S. Senior of the Compensation Insurance
Rating Board, setting up a Special Funds Conservation
Committee, with respect to the funds created
under the Section 15-subdivision 8 and Section
25-a of the Workmen's Compensation Law…..
Thereafter, in 1940, legislation was enacted which
amended Section 25-a to provide additional funding
for the Special Fund for Reopened Cases, including
a second $150,000 special assessment from insurers
and an increased assessment of $1,000 in nondependent
death cases, up from the previous $300. In the
same 1940 Act, the legislature also added a time
limit in Section 123 of the Workers' Compensation
Law, providing that no award shall be made after
a lapse of eighteen years from the date if injury
or death and also a lapse of eight years from
the date of the last payment of compensation.
In a memorandum in support of the 1940 legislation
(L. 1940, c 686), Frieda S. Miller, Industrial
Commissioner, stated that the study of cases charged
against the Special Fund for Reopened Cases showed
that the proposed time limitations were reasonable
and would afford relief to carriers and employers:
While these limitations are a departure from
the accepted theories underlying the principles
of the Workmen's Compensation Law in this State,
which are, that a worker should always have
the right to reopen his case at any time, the
study which was made of the cases charged against
the special fund indicates that the statue of
limitation is reasonable and it will afford
a relief to the insurance carriers and self-insurers
in the State by eliminating the necessity of
carrying reserves indefinitely.
1948-Provision
for Permanent Plan to Replenish the Fund.
Following the 1940 legislation, various additional
amendments were made to Section 25-a in an attempt
to get more money into the Special Fund for Reopened
Cases and insure its solvency. These included
provisions for additional special assessments
and assessments of $5 to $10 on every schedule
award. However, despite these attempts, the Special
Fund for Reopened Cases continued to have solvency
problems. Then, in 1948, Subdivision 3 of Section
25-a was amended to provide a permanent plan for
financing the fund. This 1948 amendment provides
that there shall be maintained in the fund assets
at least equal in value to the sum of (1) the
value of awards charged against the fund, (2)
the value of all claims that have been reopened
by the Board as a charge against the fund but
as to which awards have not yet been made, and
(3) a reserve of $250,000. Pursuant to the 1948
amendment, Subdivision 3 further provides that
when the assets of the fund fall below the prescribed
minimum, the Chair of the Workers' Compensation
Board shall assess and collect from all carriers
an amount sufficient to restore the fund to the
prescribed minimum.
The reason for this 1948 change in financing for
the Special Fund for Reopened Cases was described
in a March 20, 1948 letter from Chair Mary Donlon
of the Workers' Compensation Board to the counsel
to Governor Dewey:
Established in 1934 (sic), this Fund, it was
initially thought, would be of small proportions,
therefore its financing was left to casual revenues
and special statutory assessments levied from
time to time by special act. In the first year
after the Reopened Cases Fund was established,
there were only nine cases charged against it;
but last year this Board charged against the
Fund awards in 1,014 cases. The magnitude of
the obligations of this Fund at the present
time makes it necessary to insure that the Fund
can command the revenue necessary to discharge
the obligations charged against it.
With this viewpoint, all parties concerned in
the solvency of the Fund were in agreement.
Many conferences were held in order to develop
an adequate scheme of financing, satisfactory
to those who bear the cost, namely the insurance
companies and self-insured employers. The bill,
which is before the Governor was developed as
the result of these conferences and was introduced
with the approval of all concerned parties.
This permanent plan for financing the Special
Fund for Reopened cases remain in effect today,
except that the required amount is now 10% of
the sum of items (1) and (2), and the amount paid
for supplemental benefits is also included in
the amount required to be in the fund."
The history of these funds
is well documented and provides a great insight
as to why it was established and the important
role that it continues to provide in today's insurance
industry. The number of established 25a files
has grown to 28,195 and Special Funds reimburses
carriers on approximately 54,370 open established
15.8 claims. The benefit to all insurance carriers
is great and Special Funds continues to strive
for fair and prompt resolution of claims and excellence
in service to all carriers.
For additional information on Section 15.8 and
25a, we have extracted the following excerpts
from the Workers' Compensation
Law for your review:
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