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Most injured workers are told a half-truth: 'workers' comp is your only option.' Comp pays part of your wages and your medical bills, and nothing for pain and suffering. But New York's Labor Law gives construction workers strong claims against property owners and general contractors, and equipment makers and other subcontractors can be responsible too. Those claims are separate from comp and often worth far more.
Workers' comp: tell your employer within 30 days and file within 2 years. Lawsuits against owners and contractors: generally 3 years, but site evidence changes daily.
Cases we handle
If it just happened
More detail in our after-an-accident guide.
How we build the case
Height safety: Labor Law §240 makes owners and general contractors strictly liable when proper fall protection was missing
Site-safety violations: §241 and the Industrial Code, built from OSHA records, site logs and coworker accounts
Every responsible party: owners, general contractors, subcontractors and equipment makers beyond your own employer
Compensation
Full lost wages, not the workers' comp fraction
Pain and suffering (not available in comp)
Future medical care and job retraining
Lost earning power if you can't return to the trade
Every case is different, and no lawyer can promise a result. Our settlement calculator shows how claims are first estimated, with the math visible.
Who leads these cases
“My boss told me workers' comp was all I could get. Erik found the claim against the building owner that paid for my recovery and my retraining.”
Example results
Example result Settled after a Labor Law ruling
$1,850,000
Illustrative amount, not a real case
Construction fall Construction & Workplace Injuries Tone: Favorable
A 34-year-old ironworker fell fourteen feet when an uninspected plank snapped. Labor Law §240 applied against the owner and general contractor, alongside his workers' comp claim.
The workers' comp lien was negotiated down, so more of the recovery reached him.
Example result Settled after depositions
$1,050,000
Illustrative amount, not a real case
Forklift injury Construction & Workplace Injuries Tone: Favorable
A stock picker's foot was crushed by a forklift whose backup alarm had been unplugged for weeks. The claim was against the warehouse where the staffing agency placed him, on top of his comp benefits.
Example results for a sample website, not real cases. Past results never guarantee a future outcome.
Common questions
Often, yes. Comp stops you from suing your own employer, but not other parties: the site owner, the general contractor, another subcontractor or an equipment maker. Labor Law §240 cases run alongside comp claims every day, and we coordinate both so the comp lien is handled correctly at the end.
No. New York's Labor Law and workers' comp protections apply to every worker on the site, regardless of status, and we never ask. Your employer cannot legally punish you for using them.
Not necessarily. Under §240 the question is usually whether proper safety devices were provided and enforced, not simply whether you used one. If harnesses were missing or broken, or nobody enforced tie-off, the owner and contractor can still be responsible. Let us look before you assume.
More answers on our FAQ page. General information for New York, not legal advice about your situation.
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