Disability - DBL

Neighbors Insurance is pleased to provide this compact desk refrence on the New York State Disability Benefits Law (DBL).

We've compiled a list of frequenty asked questions that will help answer your questions. And we've tried to make it clear and concise. DBL is a must-have policy - because its the law.

I. What is DBL?
On April 13, 1949, Governor Thomas E. Dewey signed the Mailler-Condon Bill which, upon his signature, became Article IX of the Workmen's Compensation Law, also known as the Disability Benefits Law (DBL). While Workers' Comp mandates benefits for on-the-job injury and work-related illness, DBL provides payments for eligible wage earners who are incapacitated by illness or disability by a nonoccupational injury. Currently, only five other U.S. states and territories have mandatory disability insurance programs in place: New Jersey, California, Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Puerto Rico.

II. When does my business have to provide DBL coverage?
1. If you employ one or more persons for at least 30 work days in a calendar year.
2. If your employee is a domestic helper who works at least 40 hours in a week in your private home.
3. If you are a sole proprietor or partnership and your only employee is your spouse. (In this case, you may elect to exclude your spouse and may do so by notifying the Workers' Compensation Board.)

III. When can I be covered as an employee?
1. You have worked for a covered employer for at least four consecutive weeks.
2. You are a part-time employee, i.e. a person who works fewer hours than constitute your employer's normal work week. Any part of a day worked is counted as a day of employment, and you become eligible on the 25th day of such regular, part-time employment.
3. You are a personal or domestic employee who works for the same employer in a private home at least 40 hours a week.
4. You are an employed college student who meets any of the above requirements.
5. You are a corporate officer who is an employee (unless you are only nominally an officer or receive no wages or remuneration for your services).

You are eligible immediately if . . .
1. You become reemployed after receiving unemployment benefits, provided your prior employment was covered; or
2. You move from one covered employer to another - as long as the gap in employment isn't more than four weeks.

IV. Who is not eligible for DBL?
1. A minor child of an employer
2. Government, railroad, or maritime workers
3. Ministers, priests, rabbis, imams, sextons, Christian Science readers, or members of a religious order
4. Teachers or other professionals working for nonprofit religious, charitable or educational institutions; and people receiving rehabilitative services in a sheltered workshop run by such institutions under a U.S. Department of Labor certificate
5. Someone receiving aid in exchange for work from religious, charitable or educational institutions
6. Golf caddies
7. Daytime students in elementary or secondary school who work part-time
8. Independent contractors
9. A corporate director who is not an employee
10.A proprietor or partner without any employees
11.An executive officer (i.e. president, vice president, secretary, or treasurer) of an incorporated nonprofit religious, charitable or educational institution
12."Extra Employees" (so called because they are normally not in the labor market but are hired to do work for a limited, special period of time; after 45 days, however, they become eligible)
13."Casual Employees" (so called because they normally work in a different occupation and are hired for a day or less)
Note: An employer may elect to provide benefits to an excluded class of employees by filing an "Application for Voluntary Coverage" with the Workers' Compensation Board. Upon approval, the employer should notify the insurance carrier.

Contact one of our licensed agents for more details and rates.

Call us at 607.563.9955 (Sidney), 607.433.0989 (Oneonta), 607.637.5453 (Hancock), or fill out our convenient online simple information request form.