N.Y. Volunteer Ambulance Workers' Benefit Law § 3: Definitions

§ 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.