Purpose of the Livery Fund

On July 26, 2008, New York Governor David Paterson signed legislation that created the Livery Drivers Benefit Fund. The Fund provides Workers' Compensation benefits for serious injuries and crimes committed against drivers dispatched by qualifying independent livery bases. The Livery Fund Law has helped solve a workers’ compensation problem that has spanned three decades. For many years, the livery industry has posed a dilemma for the workers’ compensation system, due to many gray areas associated with the law regarding the livery industry. An important step towards resolving these issues was taken with the enactment of Chapter 392 of the Laws of 2008. That statute allowed livery bases in New York City, Westchester and Nassau Counties, to qualify as “independent” bases if they met certain criteria typically used by the courts to determine independent contractor status. Specifically, the statute stated that independent bases would pay into the Fund which would purchase special coverage that would provide workers’ compensation benefits for the most serious injuries, including those resulting from crimes and deaths. The overall purpose of the Livery Fund is to provide workers' compensation benefits, under certain circumstances, to livery drivers who operate vehicles that receive dispatches from livery bases that are members of the Fund.