N.Y. Volunteer Firefighters' Benefit Law § 3: Definitions

§ 3. Definitions. As used in this chapter:

1. "Volunteer firefighter" means an active volunteer member of a fire

company.

2. "Fire company" means:

a. A fire company of a county, city, town, village or fire district

fire department, whether or not any such company has been incorporated

under any general or special law,

b. A fire corporation incorporated under or subject to the provisions

of article ten of the membership corporations law, which is not included

within paragraph a above, if such corporation is by law under the

general control of, or recognized as a fire corporation by, the

governing board of a city, town, village or fire district, or

c. A fire corporation incorporated under, or established pursuant to

the provision of, any general or special law, which is not included

within paragraphs a and b above, if such corporation is by law under the

general control of, or recognized as a fire corporation by, the

governing board of a city, town, village or fire district or Indian

reservation.

Any district corporation which has the general powers of and operates as

a fire district shall be considered as a fire district for the purposes

of this chapter. A "fire department" may be composed of one or more fire

companies.

3. "Line of duty" means the performance by a volunteer firefighter as

a volunteer firefighter 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 firefighter 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: receipt of a training

stipend as outlined in section two hundred-aa of the general municipal

law; reimbursement of expenses for meals, lodging and actual and

necessary travel; the receipt of a mileage allowance in lieu of travel

expense; reimbursement of expenses for registration and tuition fees

payable under section seventy-two-g of the general municipal law, and

the acceptance of transportation, food, drink, shelter, clothing and

similar items while on duty or engaged in such activities.

4. "Injury" includes any disablement of a volunteer firefighter 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 firefighter; and a step-child or

acknowledged child born out of wedlock dependent upon the deceased

volunteer firefighter.

6. "Surviving spouse" means the legal spouse of a deceased volunteer

firefighter, 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" includes a surviving spouse entitled to receive

benefits under this chapter, whether or not actually dependent upon a

volunteer firefighter, unless a contrary meaning is clearly intended.

8. "Earning capacity", except as herein provided, means:

a. The ability of a volunteer firefighter to perform on a five-day or

six-day basis either the work usually and ordinarily performed by him or

her in his or her remunerated employment or other work which for any

such worker would be a reasonable substitute for the remunerated

employment in which he or she was employed at the time of his or her

injury, or

b. The ability of a volunteer firefighter to perform on a five-day or

six-day basis either the work usually and ordinarily performed by him or

her in the practice of his or her profession or in the conduct of his or

her trade or business, including farming, and from which he or she 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

or she was engaged at the time of his or her injury.

Every volunteer firefighter shall be considered to have earning

capacity and, if the provisions of paragraphs a and b above 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 firefighter with due regard to the provisions of such

paragraphs and the work he or she reasonably could be expected to obtain

and for which he or she is qualified by age, education, training and

experience. The ability of a volunteer firefighter to perform the duties

of a volunteer firefighter, or to engage in activities incidental

thereto, may be considered in determining loss of earning capacity, but

the inability of a volunteer firefighter to perform such duties or to

engage in such activities shall not be a basis of determining loss of

earning capacity.

9. "State" includes 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 district.

11. "State fund" means the state insurance fund provided for in

article six of the workmen's compensation law.

12. "County plan of self-insurance" means a county plan of

self-insurance under article five of the workmen's compensation law.

13. "Insurance carrier" means the state fund, the stock corporations,

mutual corporations 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. "Emergency" includes the search for persons and the search for,

and attempts to recover or the recovery of, bodies of persons even

though it is possible or is known that all hope of life is gone.

15. "Fund raising activity" means a method of raising funds to

effectuate the lawful purposes of a fire company, but shall not include

any method prohibited by the state constitution or the penal statutes of

this state, public fireworks displays unless conducted in compliance

with section 405.00 of the penal law. Such term "fund raising activity"

shall not include drills, parades, inspections, reviews, competitive

tournaments, contests or public exhibitions, described in paragraphs e

and i of subdivision one of section five of this chapter, even though

prizes are awarded at such events. Such fund raising activity must

comply with all the requirements of section two hundred four-a of the

general municipal law.

16. "Minor" or "infant" means a person who has not attained the age of

eighteen years.

17. 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.