NYC Injury Headlines

New York Worker Comp Issues For Jockeys

Investigations for your invitation to appear before you today and to discuss how we in the New York racing industry address on-track workers’ compensation issues for jockeys, apprentice jockeys and exercise riders.I am Chairman of the Board of Directors of the New York Jockey Injury Compensation Fund, Inc. I have had the pleasure to serve as the Fund’s Chairman and as a member of the Fund’s Board of Directors for more than 10 years.

Background And Purpose Of The New York Jockey Injury
Compensation Fund, Inc.Prior to the establishment of the Fund, jockeys, apprentice jockeys and exercise riders were often challenged in their claims for workers’ compensation benefits as being independent contractors and thus, were not entitled to benefits. The fact is that jockeys are a unique type of employee. It is not unusual for them to be employed by several different employers (owners or trainers) in the course of a day at the race track and in fact, within a single hour. When pressed for coverage after an accident, it would sometimes be argued that the trainer was the jockey’s employer.

Such cases were pending before the New York Workers’ Compensation Board prior to the establishment of the Fund. This situation created special and unusual problems from those encountered by an average employee regarding identification of coverage and employment. Similar problems arose with regard to the identification of which employer is responsible for an injury because of the unusual and distinctive jockey work environment. It is possible that a jockey may have an injured back after riding for an hour, and it may be impossible to determine which ride caused the injury even before getting to the question whether the owner or trainer was the jockey’s employer.

The result of such disputes was that the jockey and his family were without means of income when there were disputes to determine which employer was responsible or when the independent contactor defense was raised. These problems resulted in wasted time and money by the Workers’ Compensation Board in hearing after hearing to evaluate and determine cases and resulted in delays of benefits intended to be paid under the New York Workers’ Compensation Law.

Chapter 346 of the Laws of 1990 of New York was enacted and, in addition to establishing the Fund, clarified the status of jockeys, apprentice jockeys and exercise riders as employees under the Workers’ Compensation Law and established the Fund to procure workers’ compensation coverage for them. Chapter 386 embraced the concept of one employer (the Fund) created by statute to provide coverage for a particular group of workers, in this case, the jockeys, apprentice jockeys and exercise riders who are injured on specified race tracks in New York State. Employers are also the owners and trainers who pay their assessed fee to the Fund each year.