The New York State Insurance Fund today announced that July 1, 2014, marks the 100^th anniversary of the Fund. NYSIF can trace its origins in the American workers’ compensation movement to the Factory Investigation Commission of 1909 and the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire of 1911 in which 146 workers died in New York City. Both were defining events leading to the New York Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1914. One of the first compulsory workers’ compensation acts in the nation, the law created the State Insurance Fund. 

NYSIF wrote its first policy on July 1, 1914, the day the law took effect. NYSIF’s mandate, then as now, was to guarantee coverage for any employer seeking workers’ compensation insurance in New York and provide for the payment of benefits stemming from workplace injuries and fatalities for claimants or their survivors. 

“For 100 years, NYSIF has supplied a market for entire industries unable to insure elsewhere, including asbestos abatement, roofing, window washers, scrap iron and steel companies, volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers,” NYSIF Chairman Kenneth R. Theobalds said. “Today, NYSIF begins its second century of commitment to a healthy and accident-free work environment for each of its policyholders and their employees.” 

NYSIF has served as a stabilizing influence in the workers’ compensation market, guaranteeing coverage to help employers and workers avoid the hardships of on-the-job injury and illness. A competitive insurance carrier governed by a Board of Commissioners composed of private industry leaders appointed by the Governor, NYSIF by law cannot deny coverage to any business with operations in New York that has the ability to pay for coverage. 

The agency is the number one writer of workers’ compensation insurance in New York and the sixth largest in the nation, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. It annually insures one-third or more of the market, writing more than $2 billion in workers’ compensation premiums in 2013 alone. In 1950, NYSIF’s line extended to disability benefits insurance for off-the-job injuries and illnesses with the passage of the New York State Disability Benefits Law. 

“Since 1914, NYSIF has helped countless businesses control costs by offering the best value in workers’ compensation and disability benefits in New York State,” Chairman Theobalds said.

“On behalf of the Board of Commissioners, I thank Governor Andrew M. Cuomo for his leadership and support. I also commend my fellow commissioners, NYSIF Executive staff, our loyal policyholders, and the many NYSIF employees, past and present, who have sustained this agency over 10 decades by contributing immeasurably to its success.” 

NYSIF Executive Director Eric Madoff said: “NYSIF’s core mission is the same as it was 100 years ago: to guarantee the availability of workers' compensation insurance at the lowest possible cost to any employer in New York, regardless of risk, while maintaining a solvent fund that provides timely and appropriate indemnity and medical payments to injured workers. Over the past century, NYSIF has sustained an unsurpassed record of service to the people of New York. 

“I thank everyone who has had a stake in the long success of this agency–our policyholders, claimants and employees. I also thank Governor Cuomo, the State Legislature and our Board of Commissioners.” 

NYSIF would like to recognize four policyholders that have been with NYSIF for all 100 years: Maple Grove Cemetery (Worcester), Witherbee & Whalen (Canton), the Warwick Valley Dispatch (Warwick) and Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (Sleepy Hollow). Nearly 300 policyholders have been with NYSIF for more than 75 years, and nearly 2,000 for 50 years.

From 1915-1937, the New York Industrial Commission oversaw NYSIF. During that time, a young labor rights activist named Frances Perkins served as Commission Chair from 1928 – 1933. Commissioner Perkins went on to become the first female U.S. cabinet member when President Roosevelt named her Secretary of Labor in 1933. 

In 1914, payroll auditors were the State Insurance Fund’s first representatives, traveling from New York City to wherever NYSIF sent them. They stayed on the road for months at a time, auditing payrolls, writing new business, handling claims and providing any other service required. A historical account of NYSIF’s organization during its early years refers to “branch offices” as consisting of one stenographer and one other staff member. 

Much has changed since then. In the ensuing years, NYSIF grew to become a full-service workers’ compensation and disability benefits insurance carrier. NYSIF became the number one writer of workers’ compensation insurance in New York by 1928.

 NYSIF by the numbers: 

• Approximately 166,000 employers currently hold NYSIF workers’ compensation insurance policies, totaling $2.4 billion and constituting 40% of the New York market.
• NYSIF active disability benefits policies is at a record high of more than 62,000, representing nearly $17 million in deposit premium.
• In 2013, NYSIF retained approximately 88% of the workers’ compensation policies that were in force on December 31, 2012. 
• More than 79 percent of NYSIF’s workers’ compensation policyholders have a premium less than $10,000.
• NYSIF Safety Group policyholders account for 29 percent of NYSIF’s total workers’ compensation policies.
• In 2013, NYSIF’s anti-fraud unit posted 83 arrests and $10.9 million in restitution and estimated savings.
• Currently, NYSIF is managing nearly 132,000 open workers’ compensation claims.

Governor Cuomo issued a citation celebrating NYSIF’s century of service as it builds on its success of serving New York’s employers while protecting the safety and health its workers.