Cuomo: workers’ comp and unemployment-insurance changes will save companies $1.2 billion

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday outlined $1.2 billion in savings for New York companies following changes to workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance that are part of the new state budget.

Changes to the workers’-compensation law will cut costs for employers, increase the minimum benefits for affected workers, and change the management of the current system, Cuomo said in a news release.

The state will create a single method for collecting annual assessments from employers, resulting in savings for self-insured employers of an estimated $500 million.

The savings would include $25.7 million in Central New York, $38.9 million in the Southern Tier, $6.9 million in the North Country, $4.6 million in the Mohawk Valley, and $99.9 million in the Finger Lakes region, according to Cuomo.

The changes also include closure of the fund for reopened cases, which previously required payments from New York businesses, and making the workers’-compensation insurance market more competitive to drive down the costs.

Those changes, according to Cuomo’s office, will reduce workers’-compensation assessments on New York businesses by about $300 million. That includes $8.2 million (or 2.8 percent) in Central New York; $6.3 million (or 2.1 percent) in the Southern Tier; $4 million (or 1.4 percent) in the Mohawk Valley; $3.2 million (or 1.1 percent) in the North Country; and $13.4 million (or 4.5 percent) in the Finger Lakes region.

In addition, the changes include $400 million in savings for employers while increasing benefit rates for claimants.

The savings will include $16 million in Central New York, $11 million in the Southern Tier, $8 million in the Mohawk Valley, $6 million in the North Country, and $24 million in the Finger Lakes, according to the governor’s office.

The changes to the state’s unemployment-insurance system include “significant” interest-payment savings for employers. Companies can pay off their $3.5 billion debt to the federal government by 2016, reducing interest payments by $200 million.

In addition, the maximum weekly rate for the unemployed will increase from $405 to $420 beginning in October 2014. The minimum weekly benefit rate will increase from $64 to $100.

Rates were last increased in 1999, the governor’s office said.  

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com