Solutions for the Injured Worker

In New York, the law mandates that pretty much every employer must make sure that they provide workers' compensation insurance coverage for their workers in case they get hurt at work. If there is an accident and injury, the workers compensation insurance will pay all of the medical bills of the injured employee. It will also halp pay for the injured employee's lost wages. In exchange for this benefit, the law mandates that an employee cannot sue his employer for his injuries (except under a limited number conditions).

So, for example, if you work at a dry cleaning facility, and you fall down a staircase to the basement because there is no handrail, and you are badly hurt, workers' compensation will pay your medical bills and your lost wages. ALthough not having a handrail is dangerous and probably a code violation, you still cannot sue your employer. Again, this is because the employer purchased workers' compensation coverage on your behalf. This is often called the workers' compensation bar.

The question then becomes: does the injured worker have any options or is he or she limited to workers' compensation?

There are other options. If the injured worker can find a party other than his employer responsible for not putting a handrail on the staircase then the injured worker can sue that responsible party. For instance, maybe the dry cleaning employer only rents his store from a landlord and it was the landlord's responsibility for making sure that the stairway was safe. In this case, the employee would have a direct claim against the landlord.

This is often the case in the construction context. For example, an ironworker or carpenter may get hurt at a construction site. The worker was working for a subcontractor but the subcontractor was hired by the general contractor and the general contractor was hired by the owner.

In New York, under the Labor Law, an owner and general contractor are legally responsible for making sure a construction site is safe for its workers. So, when a carpenter or ironworker or any other worker gets hurt at a construction site, he is entitled to workers' compensatio through his employer but he has a direct lawsuit against the owner and general contractor.

This is exactly what we do at Lever & Stolzenberg LLP. We figure out who is responsible for your injuries and we make them pay for your injuries.

Call us today with any questions you may have with how workers' compensation law may apply to your case.