Subject Number 046-1802 Penalties for Failure to File Timely Disability and Paid Family Leave Proof of Coverage (POC) Transactions

Board Bulletins and Subject Numbers

March 25, 2026

In 2008, the New York State Legislature amended New York State Workers Compensation Law (WCL) §54 and §226 to authorize the New York State Workers' Compensation Board (Board) to penalize workers' compensation carriers, disability benefits carriers, and the New York State Insurance Fund for failure to timely file proof of coverage (POC) transactions. Timely filing of these transactions is a critical component in the Board's compliance efforts. Timely cancellation transactions help ensure that the Board can quickly process penalties against employers with lapsed policies. In addition, timely new policy and reinstatement transactions eliminate the need to issue unnecessary noncompliance inquiries and penalties to law-abiding employers.

For disability benefits carriers, the Board will issue penalties through the Insurance Compliance Inquiry Application (IC Inquiry). Carriers will receive a penalty letter and statement in the mail, but the summary and detailed reports will be available on the web.

Carriers will receive four documents:

1. Quarterly performance rate.
2. Penalty letter with the total penalty amount for the preceding quarter with a penalty invoice number that must be included with the carrier's remittance advice.
3. Summary of late transactions reflecting the number and age of transactions that were late.
4. Detailed late transaction report itemizing each late transaction and the individual penalty assessed.
5. Detailed report of timely transactions.

While the legislation permits the Board to issue penalties for every transaction, the Board will only issue penalties for the limited set of transactions listed below, and will only penalize carriers that do not meet the quarterly performance standard of 85 percent.

Transactions Subject to Penalty

Transaction type	Timely filing	Transaction late and penalized
Add (new policy)	Received no later than 30 days after effective date of new policy	Received beyond 40 days after effective date of new policy
Cancel: for non-payment of premium	Received at least 10 days prior to date of cancellation	Received after date of cancellation

Note: Those carriers meeting or exceeding the 85 percent performance standard will not be penalized for any late transactions.

The Board will implement this legislation for DB POC transactions received on or after April 1, 2026.

The penalty amount will be $50 for each 10-day-period a transaction is late, which is half the maximum $100 penalty authorized by the Legislature. This initial rate may be increased to the maximum rate over time. Carriers will be notified of penalty rate increases through Board announcements (Subject Numbers).