Workers' Compensation Benefits

The Livery Fund was created in order to provide workers' compensation benefits to independent livery drivers only under certain well defined circumstances (generally, catastrophic injuries defined by statute and injuries resulting from the commission of a crime). If you are determined by the Workers' Compensation Board to be entitled to workers' compensation benefits from the Fund, then an injured independent livery driver may be entitled to lost wage payments and medical benefits, or, in the case of death, survivor benefits to their dependents.

Medical Benefits may include hospitalization, doctor services, dentist services, physical therapy, chiropractic treatment, x-rays, laboratory tests, nursing service, durable medical goods and prescribed drugs.

Compensation Benefits calculated at two-thirds of your average weekly wage (AWW) in New York State, subject to statutory maximums, may be payable to you due to replace lost wages due to job-related disablement. Compensation benefits are not paid for the first seven calendar days of the job-related disability, unless the disability extends beyond 14 calendar days.

Death and Survivor Benefits are paid if an injured worker dies from a job-related injury. The surviving spouse and/or minor children and, lacking such, other dependents as defined by law are entitled to death and survivor benefits. Funeral expenses are payable subject to statutory maximums.

If an independent livery driver is not entitled to Workers' Compensation benefits from the Fund because they either did not sustain a catastrophic injury, as defined by statute, or injuries resulting from the commission of a crime (or because they were not on a "covered service at the time of the accident), then the independent livery driver is entitled to No-Fault benefits from their no-fault insurance carrier. As per Workers' Compensation Law Section 18-c(8) the independent livery driver who is not entitled to benefits from the Fund may obtain recovery in accordance with article fifty-one of the New York State insurance law.