N.Y. MHY Law § 33.09

§ 33.09 Employment of patients.\n (a) The department shall encourage employment of patients as part of\ntherapeutic, community care, or release programs and shall promote\ntraining of patients for gainful employment. The commissioner shall\nadopt regulations to further the purposes of this section.\n (b) A patient employed by a facility shall receive compensation for\nhis services in accordance with applicable state and federal labor laws.\nAny such employment shall be subject to regulations of the commissioner\nas to the nature and circumstances of the employment.\n (c) The provisions of the workers' compensation law, the unemployment\ninsurance law, and articles thirteen, nineteen, and twenty of the labor\nlaw shall not apply to any patient in a facility with respect to his\nparticipation in a sheltered workshop program, provided, however, that\nparticipants in sheltered workshop programs operated by the office of\nmental health, the office for people with developmental disabilities or\nvoluntary agencies or institutional worker programs operated by the\noffice of mental health shall be eligible for workers' compensation\nbenefits (excluding benefits provided pursuant to article nine of the\nworkers' compensation law) if such offices or agencies elect to provide\nsuch benefits. Sheltered workshops operated at department facilities\nshall be subject to the laws and regulations applicable to sheltered\nworkshops operated by voluntary agencies.\n