NY Approves New Rule on Workers' Compensation
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Photo: Mathea Kelley
Regulators have approved a new rule that makes it simpler for the New York State Gaming Commission to impose upon Thoroughbred owners and trainers an insurance program to provide workers' compensation coverage for injured jockeys, apprentice jockeys, and exercise riders.
Along with ensuring insurance coverage is in place, officials said the regulation is intended to put pressure on the New York Jockey Injury Compensation Fund, or JCIF, which for two years in a row missed a required annual Nov. 15 deadline to submit plans to the state for coverage beginning Jan. 1 each year.
The "placeholder" regulation was adopted unanimously and without discussion earlier in the week of Feb. 28. The NYSGC now has the power to impose a "default subsequent-year plan" if the JCIF misses the annual November deadline.
The process for state-imposed insurance coverage has been cumbersome. Officials said a "standing structure" is now in place for the state to act swiftly if the JCIF does not submit a plan in November.
"We don't want to be in an emergency situation for 2017," one official said. Without insurance in place for the covered workers, Thoroughbred racing would be halted.
The issue came to a head in December when the NYSGC adopted an emergency rule for a new coverage plan for 2016. On Dec. 22 officials said they had no choice but to act because the JCIF had not submitted its own insurance plan to provide coverage for those who work for owners and trainers at New York Racing Association tracks and Finger Lakes Gaming & Racetrack.
The state-devised plan would have sharply raised insurance costs for owners and trainers. However, on Dec. 30, the NYSGC's emergency plan was replaced after the JCIF submitted an insurance program that had been subject to negotiations involving the state and various industry stakeholders.
Workers' compensation costs have been increasing for owners and trainers in New York, and various efforts have been underway to try to improve workplace safety conditions to try to reduce—or at least slow the rate of increase—the insurance expenses.