If you were hurt on a construction site in New York, the most important thing to understand is that workers’ compensation is not your only option — and in most construction accidents, it is not even close to your best option. Labor Law §240 gives injured construction workers a separate legal claim that workers’ comp cannot touch, and the recoveries it produces are in a completely different league.
What Labor Law §240 Actually Protects
Labor Law §240 — called the Scaffold Law — was written specifically to put the burden of construction site safety on the people with the power and money to enforce it: property owners and general contractors. The law requires them to provide adequate protection for workers performing elevation-related tasks. If they fail and a worker gets hurt, they are liable.
What makes this meaningful is the word absolute. Absolute liability means you do not need to prove the contractor was careless or knew about a safety problem. You need to show that a gravity-related injury occurred and that proper protection was not in place. The contractor cannot argue they did everything right. The property owner cannot argue the accident was your fault. Comparative negligence — the rule that reduces your recovery based on your share of blame — does not apply to Labor Law §240 claims.
Who This Law Covers
Labor Law §240 covers workers in construction, demolition, repair, alteration, painting, cleaning, and pointing of buildings or structures. If your job involved any risk from elevation — working at height or working beneath something that could fall — you are almost certainly covered. The law covers employees and independent contractors equally. Your immigration status has no effect on your right to bring a claim.
What Qualifies as a Covered Accident
The law covers any gravity-related injury. Scaffold collapses and tip-overs. Falls from ladders, roofs, and elevated platforms. Workers struck by falling tools, materials, or debris. Accidents involving hoists, pulleys, or rigging that fails. Falls through unprotected floor openings or skylights. Falls from elevation accounted for 389 of 1,034 construction fatalities in 2024 — the single largest cause of construction worker deaths in the country.
Your Two Tracks of Compensation
This is what most injured construction workers in New York do not know. You can pursue workers’ compensation from your employer and a personal injury lawsuit against the property owner and general contractor at the same time. These are two completely separate claims and you are entitled to both simultaneously.
Workers’ comp pays your medical bills and replaces a portion of your lost wages while your case is pending — currently up to $1,222.42 per week for injuries after July 1, 2025. The personal injury lawsuit recovers everything workers’ comp does not cover — full lost wages rather than the capped two-thirds, pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and future medical expenses. The combined total is almost always dramatically higher than workers’ comp alone.
What These Cases Are Worth
Because absolute liability eliminates the biggest defense available to insurance companies, Labor Law §240 cases produce some of the highest verdicts in New York. Minor fractures typically settle for $50,000 to $150,000. Cases involving surgery or serious injury regularly reach $150,000 to $500,000. Severe injuries — spinal damage, traumatic brain injury, paralysis — have produced settlements and verdicts in the millions. The 2016 Tribeca crane collapse produced a $272.5 million settlement, the largest crane accident settlement in New York City history.
What To Do Now
Report the accident to your employer in writing immediately. Photograph the scene, the equipment, and your injuries before anything is cleaned up or repaired. Get the names and contact information of any witnesses. Do not give a recorded statement to any insurance company before speaking with an attorney.
The statute of limitations for Labor Law §240 claims is three years from the date of the accident under CPLR §214. If a government entity is involved the deadline may be as short as 90 days. The sooner you act the stronger your case will be.