by Anthony DePalma

Even as New York City battles thousands of ground zero workers over their health claims in federal court, New York State is making more workers eligible for health care benefits.

The State Legislature has passed a bill that will make hundreds of public service workers who labored at the World Trade Center site during the nine-month cleanup after the attacks of Sept. 11 eligible for state disability payments.

Aides to Gov. David A. Paterson said on Wednesday that as many as 1,800 such workers who had already been denied disability benefits could now be eligible to receive them.

The measure, passed Monday, also extends the deadline for other ground zero workers to register for state workers’ compensation in case they become sick or disabled in the future as a result of their work at ground zero.

Governor Paterson, who strongly supported the legislation, is expected to sign it shortly.

“As the nation grieved, these heroes returned to work day and night, selflessly placing their own health at risk,” Mr. Paterson said in a statement. “It is our duty to offer them the protections they deserve in their time of illness.”

The legislation broadening the number of people potentially eligible for 9/11-related disability benefits comes as about 10,000 ground zero workers are suing the city and its contractors because they say they became sick after laboring at the site. Lawyers representing the city have claimed that many of the workers are not seriously ill, while lawyers for the workers say the city’s claims are inaccurate.

But those 10,000 represent only a portion of the total work force at ground zero, which is estimated to have exceeded 40,000.

The additional workers aided by the Legislature’s bill include state and county correction officers, 911 dispatchers, emergency vehicle radio repair mechanics and volunteers who were excluded from health care benefits until now because they had retired from public service. Also included are nonuniformed public employees who did not undergo a physical exam before they started working.

The legislation follows many of the recommendations made this year by the September 11th Worker Protection Task Force. That group, made up of public officials, union leaders and doctors, was created in 2005 when the Legislature provided disability benefits for certain public employees who worked at ground zero.

That law limited coverage to workers who had undergone pre-employment physical examinations. But the task force determined that the requirement placed an unfair burden on many workers who had not had such exams before they were hired.

Under the legislation passed on Monday, those workers are covered if they agree to provide access to their medical files and can demonstrate that before 9/11 they did not have the kind of illnesses that could be related to trade center dust.

Also under the legislation, another type of workers — those employed by private contractors and covered by the state workers’ compensation system — have been given additional time to register for benefits, even if they are not sick. Registering is not the same as filing a compensation claim. Rather, doing so protects a worker’s right to file claims in the future if he or she should become ill.

Most workers’ compensation claims have to be filed within two years of an accident or injury. But Joseph Cavalcante, a spokesman for the New York State Workers Compensation Board, said that because some illnesses related to exposure to the ground zero dust and smoke could take years to develop, that deadline had been extended to Aug. 14, 2008.

The legislation passed on Monday further delays the deadline for registering, giving workers until Sept. 11, 2010.