By Joel Finkelstein, Esq., The Finkelstein Law Firm, PLLC | Updated October 2026
Quick Answer
If you’re hurt on the job in New York, tell your employer in writing within 30 days, get treatment from a Workers’ Compensation Board–authorized provider, and file your own claim (Form C-3) with the Board within two years. Workers’ compensation pays medical bills and part of your lost wages regardless of fault, but it doesn’t pay for pain and suffering. If someone other than your employer contributed to the injury, such as a property owner, general contractor, or equipment maker, you may also have a separate lawsuit, with its own, shorter clock.
What Counts as a Work-Related Injury
New York’s workers’ compensation system covers injuries and illnesses that arise out of and in the course of employment. That includes sudden accidents (a fall, a crushed hand, a vehicle crash while making deliveries), injuries that build over time (carpal tunnel, back damage from years of lifting), and occupational diseases from exposures such as silica or solvents. Mental health conditions can qualify too, though stress-related claims face stricter rules than physical injuries.
Coverage doesn’t depend on fault. You can receive benefits even if you made a mistake that contributed to the accident, with narrow exceptions such as injuries caused solely by intoxication or a deliberate intent to injure yourself or someone else. Immigration status doesn’t bar a claim either.
One group that’s often confused about coverage is workers labelled independent contractors. The label on your paperwork isn’t decisive. The Board looks at the actual working relationship: who controls the work, supplies the tools, sets the hours, and pays you. Many workers paid on a 1099 turn out to be employees for workers’ compensation purposes.
Step One: Give Written Notice Within 30 Days
Workers’ Compensation Law § 18 requires you to notify your employer in writing within 30 days of the accident. Telling your supervisor in person is a good start, but follow up with an email or text that states the date, time, place, and how you were hurt, and keep a copy.
Late notice doesn’t automatically kill a claim. The Board can excuse it, for example, when the employer already knew about the injury or wasn’t harmed by the delay. But late notice hands the insurer an easy argument, and it’s one of the most common reasons legitimate claims get contested. For gradual injuries and occupational diseases, the clock generally runs from when you knew or should have known the condition was connected to work.
Step Two: Get Treatment From an Authorized Provider
Outside an emergency, see a doctor or other provider authorized by the Workers’ Compensation Board, and tell the office your injury is work-related so it bills the claim rather than your health insurance. Treatment by a non-authorized provider may not be paid. Some employers participate in a preferred provider organization for initial treatment, so ask your employer whether one applies to you.
Your medical records are the backbone of the claim. Describe every symptom at each visit, including the ones that seem minor. A shoulder complaint first mentioned three months after the accident is much harder to connect to it.
Step Three: File Your Own Claim, and Don’t Rely on Your Employer’s Report
Your employer has its own reporting duty, but that report doesn’t file a claim for you. You file Form C-3, the Employee Claim, with the Workers’ Compensation Board, which you can do online. Under Workers’ Compensation Law § 28, the claim generally must be filed within two years of the accident, or for occupational diseases, within two years of when you knew or should have known the illness was work-related.
Once a claim is established, here’s what benefits generally look like:
- Medical care for the work injury, with no copays when billed to the claim.
- Lost-wage benefits equal to two-thirds of your average weekly wage, multiplied by your degree of disability and subject to a weekly maximum. For injuries on or after July 1, 2026, the Board’s published maximum is $1,281.50 per week and the minimum is $384.45.
- A seven-day waiting period before wage benefits begin, which is paid retroactively if the disability lasts more than 14 days.
- Schedule loss of use awards for permanent impairment to an arm, leg, hand, foot, eye, or other listed body part, and death benefits for dependents in fatal cases.
What workers’ compensation doesn’t cover is pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, or full lost wages. That gap is why a possible third-party claim matters so much. For how resolved claims are typically structured, see our guide to negotiating a workers’ comp settlement.
Can You Sue Your Employer? Usually Not
In exchange for no-fault benefits, Workers’ Compensation Law § 11 makes workers’ compensation your exclusive remedy against your employer in almost every case. Carelessness, even serious carelessness, doesn’t change that. The real exceptions are narrow:
- Your employer didn’t carry required coverage. You can then choose between a claim through the Board and a lawsuit for damages, and the employer loses its usual defenses.
- Your employer intended to injure you. Courts read this narrowly. It means a deliberate act aimed at causing harm, not a known safety violation.
Separately, Workers’ Compensation Law § 120 makes it unlawful for an employer to fire or discriminate against you because you filed, or tried to file, a workers’ compensation claim. A retaliation complaint is filed with the Board, generally within two years of the retaliatory act.
Third-Party Claims: Where Most of the Compensation Is
If someone other than your employer helped cause the injury, you can usually sue that party while still collecting workers’ compensation. Common third parties include:
- Property owners and general contractors on construction sites
- Manufacturers of defective machinery, ladders, or safety equipment
- Other drivers in work-related vehicle crashes
- Owners of premises where you were working, such as a store or warehouse, when a hazard there caused the fall
For construction and building work, New York’s Labor Law gives injured workers unusually strong protection. Labor Law § 240(1), often called the Scaffold Law, makes owners and contractors responsible when a worker is hurt by a fall from height or by a falling object because proper safety devices, such as secured ladders, harnesses, or hoists, weren’t provided. It isn’t an ordinary negligence claim. Liability is essentially absolute once the violation is shown to have caused the injury, and the worker’s own carelessness doesn’t reduce recovery unless it was the sole cause of the accident. Labor Law § 241(6) adds liability for violations of specific Industrial Code safety rules. Falls from scaffolds, ladders, and roofs are among the most common types of work-related injury on construction sites, and our overview of common causes of construction accidents in New York covers others.
Watch the deadlines. A personal injury lawsuit against a private party generally must be filed within three years. If a city, county, town, school district, or public authority may be responsible, you usually have to serve a notice of claim within 90 days, which is far shorter. When a third-party case settles, the workers’ compensation carrier has a lien on the recovery for benefits it paid, and its consent is generally needed for the settlement so that ongoing benefits aren’t put at risk.
A Ladder Fall That Opened Two Separate Claims
The following is a composite drawn from the kinds of construction injury cases Hudson Valley injury lawyers regularly handle, with details changed. It shows how the two systems work side by side.
A drywall installer working for a subcontractor on a commercial renovation in Orange County fell about ten feet when an unsecured extension ladder slid out on a dusty concrete floor. He fractured his wrist and injured his lower back. He texted his foreman a description and photos that afternoon and saw an authorized orthopedist the next day.
His C-3 established the workers’ compensation claim, which covered surgery, physical therapy, and two-thirds of his average wage while he was out. Those benefits came within weeks. But they didn’t cover his pain, the permanent loss of grip strength, or the gap between his benefits and his actual pay.
Because the general contractor and building owner hadn’t provided a secured ladder or other proper fall protection, he also had a Labor Law § 240(1) claim against them. The defense argued he had set the ladder up badly himself. Under § 240(1), that argument mattered only if his conduct was the sole cause of the fall, and the missing safety device meant it wasn’t. The third-party case was later resolved with the workers’ compensation carrier’s consent, and the carrier’s lien was repaid out of the recovery. The early written notice and prompt medical records made both claims far easier to prove. Every case depends on its own facts, and past results don’t guarantee a similar outcome.
Mistakes That Damage Otherwise Strong Claims
- Waiting to report. “I thought it would get better” is the most common reason notice is late.
- Giving a recorded statement to an insurer without preparation. You can ask to provide the facts in writing instead.
- Leaving out prior injuries. Previous back or knee problems don’t bar a claim, but hiding them damages your credibility.
- Posting about the accident or your activities online. Insurers routinely check social media.
- Signing a third-party release without checking the comp lien. Settling without the carrier’s consent can cut off future workers’ compensation benefits.
Common Questions
Can I collect workers’ compensation and Social Security Disability at the same time? Yes, but federal law may reduce your SSDI benefit when combined payments exceed a set percentage of your prior earnings.
Do I have to use my employer’s doctor? Not usually. You can generally choose any Board-authorized provider, subject to any preferred provider arrangement your employer has for initial care.
What if my employer says I was an independent contractor? File the claim anyway. The Board decides employment status based on the actual working relationship, not the label.
Disclaimer
This article provides general information about New York workers’ compensation and injury law and is not legal advice. Benefit rates, forms, and deadlines change, and how they apply depends on your specific facts. Reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship. The case example is a composite for illustration, and prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Attorney advertising.
Authorities & Sources
- N.Y. Workers’ Compensation Law § 18 – Notice of Injury
- N.Y. Workers’ Compensation Law § 28 – Limitation of Right to Compensation
- N.Y. Workers’ Compensation Law § 11 – Exclusivity and Grave Injury
- N.Y. Workers’ Compensation Law § 120 – Retaliation Prohibited
- N.Y. Labor Law § 240 – Scaffolding and Other Devices
- N.Y. Workers’ Compensation Board – Maximum and Minimum Weekly Benefit Rates
