3. Definitions. As used in this chapter:
1. "Volunteer ambulance worker" means an active volunteer member of an ambulance company as specified on a list regularly maintained by that company for the purpose of this chapter.
2. "Ambulance company" means any voluntary or municipal ambulance service registered or certified pursuant to article thirty of the public health law, except an ambulance service subject to the provisions of section two hundred nine-b of the general municipal law.
3. "Line of duty" means the performance by a volunteer ambulance worker as a volunteer ambulance worker of the duties and activities described in subdivision one of section five of this chapter and the same such duties and activities performed for a specialized team established pursuant to the provisions of section two hundred nine-bb of the general municipal law for which the volunteer ambulance worker does not receive any remuneration or a gratuity and shall be deemed to include any date of injury as determined by the workers' compensation board pursuant to the provisions of section forty-one of this chapter. The following shall not be deemed to be remuneration or a gratuity: reimbursement of expenses for meals, lodging and actual and necessary travel; the receipt of a mileage allowance in lieu of travel expense; and the acceptance of transportation, food, drink, shelter, clothing and similar items while on duty or engaged in such activities.
4. "Injury" means any disablement of a volunteer ambulance worker that results from services performed in line of duty and such disease or infection as may naturally and unavoidably result from an injury.
5. "Child" includes a posthumous child, a child legally adopted prior to the injury of the volunteer ambulance worker; and a step-child or acknowledged child born out of wedlock dependent upon the deceased volunteer ambulance worker.
6. "Surviving spouse" means the legal spouse of a deceased volunteer ambulance worker, but shall not include a spouse who has abandoned the deceased. The term "abandoned", as used in this subdivision, means such an abandonment as would be sufficient under section two hundred of the domestic relations law to sustain a judgment of separation on that ground.
7. "Dependent" means a surviving spouse entitled to receive benefits under this chapter, whether or not actually dependent upon a volunteer ambulance worker, unless a contrary meaning is clearly intended.
8. "Earning capacity", except as herein provided, means:
a. The ability of a volunteer ambulance worker to perform on a five day or six day basis either the work usually and ordinarily performed by him in his remunerated employment or other work which for any such worker would be a reasonable substitute for the remunerated employment in which he was employed at the time of his injury, or
b. The ability of a volunteer ambulance worker to perform on a five day or six day basis either the work usually and ordinarily performed by him in the practice of his profession or in the conduct of his trade or business, including farming, and from which he could derive earned income or other work which for any such person would be a reasonable substitute for the profession, trade or business in which he was engaged at the time of his injury.
Every volunteer ambulance worker shall be considered to have earning capacity and, if the provisions of paragraphs a and b of this subdivision are not applicable in any given case, the workers' compensation board, in the interest of justice, shall determine the reasonable earning capacity of the volunteer ambulance worker with due regard to the provisions of such paragraphs and the work he reasonably could be expected to obtain and for which he is qualified by age, education, training and experience. The ability of a volunteer ambulance worker to perform the duties of a volunteer ambulance worker, or to engage in activities incidental thereto, may be considered in determining loss of earning capacity, but the inability of a volunteer ambulance worker to perform such duties or to engage in such activities shall not be a basis of determining loss of earning capacity.
9. "State" means all territory within the boundaries of the state of New York, including territory which has been or may hereafter be ceded to the federal government or to the United Nations and territory within the boundaries of Indian reservations.
10. "Political subdivision" means a county, city, town, village or fire or ambulance district.
11. "State fund" means the state insurance fund provided for in article six of the workers' compensation law.
12. "County plan of self-insurance" means a county plan of self-insurance under article five of the workers' compensation law.
13. "Insurance carrier" means the state fund, the stock corporations, mutual corporations, group self-insurers or reciprocal insurers described in subdivision nine of section thirty of this chapter, a county plan of self-insurance, or a self-insuring political subdivision. For purposes of this chapter, a nonprofit property/casualty insurance company which is licensed pursuant to subsection (b) of section six thousand seven hundred four of the insurance law shall be deemed a stock corporation and a nonprofit property/casualty insurance company which is licensed as a reciprocal insurer pursuant to subsection (c) of section six thousand seven hundred four of the insurance law shall be deemed a reciprocal insurer.
14. "Fund raising activity" means a fund raising activity described in subdivision one of section two hundred four-a of the general municipal law, except that for the purposes of paragraph k of subdivision one of section five of this chapter it shall not include competitive events in which volunteer ambulance workers are competitors, such as baseball, basketball, football, bowling, tugs of war, donkey baseball, donkey basketball, boxing, wrestling, contests between bands or drum corps, or other competitive events in which volunteer ambulance workers are competitors and which involve physical exertion on the part of the competitors. Such term "fund raising activity" shall not include drills, parades, inspections, reviews, competitive tournaments, contests or public exhibitions, described in paragraphs e and h of subdivision one of section five of this chapter, even though prizes are awarded at such events.
15. The "workers' compensation rating board" or the "New York workers' compensation rating board" shall have the meaning set forth in section two of the workers' compensation law.
Last modified: February 3, 2019