New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed legislation to expand workers’ compensation benefits to people who are facing job-related mental health crises.
The new law, which goes into effect January 1, 2025, allows any worker to file for workers’ compensation for specific types of mental injury premised on extraordinary work-related stress. This expands coverage to all workers in New York. A law enacted in 2017 made only first responders facing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) eligible for such benefits.
The new law by its own language expands coverage to cover all workers to “ensure that work-related PTSD is properly identified and treated as part of the workers compensation system.
The Workers’ Compe