Construction accidents
New York gives construction workers protections that exist almost nowhere else in American law. Most injured workers never find out, because nobody on the job site has a reason to tell them.
Workers compensation is not the end of it. Compensation is your only remedy against your employer. The Labor Law claims run against the property owner and the general contractor, who are usually different companies, and both can proceed at the same time.
The one thing worth knowing
An injured worker is told to file a compensation claim, does so, and assumes that is the system working. It is, but it is one of two systems, and the other one is usually worth considerably more.
Workers compensation pays medical treatment and a portion of lost wages without anyone arguing about fault. What it does not pay is anything for pain and suffering, and it is an exclusive remedy: you cannot sue your own employer for the injury.
But on almost every job site the employer is not the only company involved. There is a property owner. There is usually a general contractor. There are other subcontractors. None of them are your employer, so none of them are protected by the exclusive remedy, and New York’s Labor Law places specific, non-delegable duties on the owner and the general contractor whether or not they did anything wrong themselves.
Hurt on a job site?
The first conversation is free, and it does not affect your compensation claim.
Labor Law § 240(1), the Scaffold Law
This is the provision New York is known for, and it is genuinely unusual. It requires owners and contractors to furnish scaffolding, ladders, hoists, braces and similar devices "so constructed, placed and operated as to give proper protection" to workers. Where a worker is injured by a gravity-related risk because that protection was not provided, liability is absolute.
What absolute means in practice: your own carelessness does not reduce the recovery. In nearly every other injury claim in New York your share of the fault comes off the top. On a valid § 240(1) claim it does not.
Two boundaries matter:
- It is about elevation and gravity. Falling from a height, or being struck by something that fell. A trip on the same level is not a 240 case, however badly you were hurt.
- Sole proximate cause. If adequate safety equipment was available and the worker simply chose not to use it, that can defeat the claim entirely. It is a narrow defense and it is heavily litigated.
§ 241(6) and § 200, the rest of the job site
Most site injuries are not falls, and the Labor Law does not stop at § 240.
- § 241(6) covers construction, excavation and demolition generally. It requires identifying a specific provision of the Industrial Code that was violated, a general complaint that the site was unsafe will not carry it. Unlike § 240, comparative fault does reduce a § 241(6) recovery.
- § 200 is the common-law duty to provide a reasonably safe workplace, written into the statute. It generally requires showing that the owner or contractor supervised or controlled the work, or knew about the dangerous condition.
The three are usually pleaded together, because which one carries the case is often not obvious until the facts are developed.
The homeowner exemption
Owners of one- and two-family dwellings who hire a contractor but do not direct or control the work are exempt from §§ 240 and 241. Worth checking early, because on a residential job it can change who the real defendants are, and sometimes means the claim runs against a contractor’s insurer rather than the homeowner’s.
Deadlines, and why they are easy to miss here
Three years from the date of injury under CPLR § 214(5). But if the site is owned by a municipality or a public authority, a notice of claim may be due within ninety days under General Municipal Law § 50-e.
That ninety days is the trap on this particular kind of case, because an injured worker is usually deep in a compensation claim during exactly that period, being told by people who sound official that the paperwork is handled. The compensation claim does not preserve the Labor Law claim.
Questions people ask
I am getting workers compensation. Can I still bring a claim?
Often yes, and this is the thing most injured workers do not know. Compensation is your exclusive remedy against your employer, but the Labor Law claims run against the property owner and the general contractor, who on most job sites are different companies entirely. Both can run at once.
What makes Labor Law 240 different from an ordinary injury claim?
It imposes absolute liability on owners and general contractors for gravity-related injuries when proper protection was not provided. Where it applies, your own carelessness does not reduce the recovery, which is the opposite of how nearly every other injury claim in New York works.
Does section 240 cover every construction injury?
No. It is specifically about elevation and gravity: falling from a height, or being struck by something that fell. An injury from a trip on the same level, or from a tool failing, is not a 240 case, though it may well be a 241(6) or a section 200 case instead.
What is section 241(6)?
A broader duty covering construction, excavation and demolition generally. It requires pointing to a specific, concrete rule in the Industrial Code that was violated, a general safety complaint is not enough. Unlike 240, your own share of the fault does reduce a 241(6) recovery.
Can the homeowner be sued if I was working on a house?
Usually not under 240 or 241. Owners of one- and two-family homes who hire a contractor but do not direct or control the work are exempt from those sections. That exemption is one of the first things to check, because it can change who the real defendants are.
They are saying the accident was my own fault. Does that end it?
Not on a 240 claim, where comparative fault does not reduce recovery. There is a narrow exception: if your own conduct was the sole proximate cause, safety equipment was available and you chose not to use it. That can defeat the claim. How that plays out is fact-specific.
How long do I have?
Three years from the date of the injury under CPLR 214(5). If a public authority or a municipality owns the site, a notice of claim can be due within ninety days, which is far shorter and is easy to miss while you are dealing with a compensation claim at the same time.
Related
Sources
NY Labor Law § 240 — Scaffolding and other devices for use of employees ·NY Labor Law § 241 — Construction, excavation and demolition work ·NY Labor Law § 200 ·CPLR § 214 ·General Municipal Law § 50-e
Verified August 23, 2026, including that § 240 was not amended by the 2026 budget tort package, which reached motor vehicle claims only. This page describes the statutory framework. It is not advice about your own case, and which section applies depends on facts this page cannot know.