Construction Accident Lawyer in New York City

Yassi Law P.C. represents construction workers who are seriously hurt on the job, and families of workers who are killed, in all five boroughs of New York City and in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Attorney Reza Yassi handles each case himself, suing the property owners and contractors responsible under Labor Law §§ 240(1), 241(6) and 200, on a contingency fee.

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Workers' compensation is usually your only claim against your own employer. But New York's Labor Law puts safety duties directly on the owner and the general contractor, who are often not your employer, and in a fall caused by missing or inadequate safety devices your own mistake is no defense.

Construction accident cases the firm handles

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The firm takes fewer cases on purpose and focuses on catastrophic injuries and deaths, including:

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• Falls from scaffolds, ladders and roofs, and through floor openings and elevator shafts

• Being struck by a falling load, tool or material, or by part of a structure being demolished

• Crane, hoist and rigging accidents, and trench and excavation collapses

• Slips and trips on debris, ice, plastic sheeting and other slippery or cluttered work surfaces

• Electrocution, and machinery and forklift accidents that cause crush injuries and amputations

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Construction falls often cause serious broken bones, spinal injuries and brain injuries. For the rules that apply to every injury claim, see the personal injury overview.

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Can you sue if you get workers' comp?

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Yes, but usually not your employer. Workers' compensation is generally the only remedy against your own employer for an on-the-job injury, unless the employer failed to carry comp coverage (Workers' Compensation Law § 11). The same bar protects a co-worker (§ 29(6)).

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You can collect comp and, at the same time, sue anyone else whose negligence or Labor Law violation caused the accident (§ 29(1)): usually the owner and the general contractor, and often a subcontractor or equipment company. Comp pays medical care and part of lost wages but nothing for pain and suffering.

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Three rules shape the lawsuit:

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• The comp carrier has a lien on your recovery for what it paid, reduced by its share of the cost of getting it, including the legal fee (§ 29(1)).

• If you take comp, sue within six months after the comp award and within one year of the accident. Otherwise the claim can pass to the carrier, after it gives you at least 30 days' written notice (§ 29(1), (2)).

• A "grave injury", such as amputation or permanent total loss of use of an arm, leg, hand or foot, paraplegia or quadriplegia, or a brain injury causing permanent total disability, lets the companies you sue bring your employer into the case to share the cost; so does a written indemnity contract your employer signed before the accident (§ 11).

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If a staffing agency placed you, the company that directed your daily work may count as your "special employer" and share your employer's protection. Reza Yassi brings the lawsuit against the companies responsible and works with law firms that handle Workers' Compensation Board hearings. Settlement consent and future comp benefits are covered on the workplace accidents page.

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Labor Law § 240(1): the Scaffold Law

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Labor Law § 240(1), the Scaffold Law, requires contractors, owners and their agents to furnish scaffolding, hoists, ladders, slings, ropes and other devices "so constructed, placed and operated as to give proper protection" to workers in the erection, demolition, repairing, altering, painting, cleaning or pointing of a building or structure.

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It protects against gravity-related hazards: falling from a height, or being hit by an object that fell because it was improperly hoisted or inadequately secured. It does not cover every injury near a scaffold; a welder's back strain from working in a cramped position on a platform was not covered (Ross v. Curtis-Palmer Hydro-Electric Co., 81 N.Y.2d 494 (1993)). Routine maintenance is generally not covered either.

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The duty is nondelegable: an owner or general contractor can be liable even if it never supervised the work (Ross). Owners of one- and two-family homes who contract for but do not direct or control the work are exempt, as are engineers and architects who do not direct or control it beyond planning and design. Section 240(2) also requires a safety rail at least 34 inches high on most scaffolding more than 20 feet up.

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Is the Scaffold Law strict liability? Defenses to a § 240(1) claim

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In part. Once you prove the statute was violated and the violation was a cause of your fall, your own carelessness is not a defense and does not reduce the award. But a fall by itself does not prove a violation (Blake v. Neighborhood Housing Services of N.Y. City, 1 N.Y.3d 280 (2003)).

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Owners and contractors usually defend on these grounds:

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• Sole proximate cause: proper safety devices were provided and the worker's own conduct alone caused the accident. If a violation helped cause the fall, the worker cannot be solely to blame (Blake).

• Not a gravity-related hazard, not covered work, or the homeowner exemption.

• Not an owner, contractor or agent. A construction manager or subcontractor is an agent only if it was given authority to supervise and control the work (Blake).

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When a device was missing or failed, liability is often decided before trial. Read how scaffold fall cases reach summary judgment.

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Labor Law § 241(6) and the Industrial Code

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Labor Law § 241(6) requires owners, contractors and their agents to provide reasonable and adequate protection where construction, excavation or demolition work is performed, and to comply with the safety rules issued by the Commissioner of Labor. Those rules are the Industrial Code, mainly 12 NYCRR Part 23, "Protection in Construction, Demolition and Excavation Operations" (listed by the State Department of Labor). The same homeowner exemption applies.

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A § 241(6) claim must rest on a specific, concrete Industrial Code rule that applied and was violated, not a general standard such as "adequate" or "proper" (Ross). Part 23 has detailed rules on scaffolds, excavations, cranes and hoists, and slipping and tripping hazards. See how New York's highest court treated slippery protective coverings under the Industrial Code.

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The duty is nondelegable, as under § 240(1), but a violation is only evidence of negligence for the jury to weigh (Ross). Owners and contractors usually defend by arguing that the rule cited is too general or did not apply, that the work was not construction, excavation or demolition, that the violation did not cause the injury, or that your own share of fault should reduce the award (CPLR 1411).

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Labor Law § 200 and other negligence claims

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Labor Law § 200 codifies the general duty to keep a workplace reasonably safe. It matters when § 240(1) and § 241(6) do not fit:

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• If the injury came from how the work was done, an owner or contractor is liable only if it exercised supervision or control over that work (Ross).

• If it came from a dangerous site condition, such as an unprotected hole, the question is generally whether the defendant created it or knew or should have known about it.

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These claims also reach a subcontractor whose crew created the hazard, a crane or forklift operator, or the maker of a defective machine. Your share of fault reduces the award but does not bar it (CPLR 1411(a)), except in some vehicle cases filed on or after May 26, 2026 (CPLR 1411(b)).

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How long do you have to sue after a construction accident?

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Three years against a private owner or contractor, but other deadlines are shorter:

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• A private owner, contractor or other company: three years from the accident (CPLR 214(5)). If you take comp, start sooner: after the § 29(1) window, the carrier can take over the claim on 30 days' written notice.

• The City or another city, county, town, village, fire district or school district: a notice of claim within 90 days (General Municipal Law § 50-e) and a lawsuit within one year and 90 days (§ 50-i). Public authorities such as NYCHA and the MTA follow their own statutes.

• New York State: within 90 days, a claim in the Court of Claims or a notice of intention to file one (Court of Claims Act § 10(3)).

• A death: a wrongful death action within two years (EPTL 5-4.1).

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For the comp claim, give your employer written notice within 30 days (Workers' Compensation Law § 18) and file within two years (§ 28). Exceptions can change these periods.

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What to do after a construction accident or a fall from a ladder

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1. Get medical care the same day, and tell every provider you were hurt on a construction site.

2. Report it to your foreman and give your employer written notice within 30 days.

3. Photograph the ladder, scaffold, opening, harness or load before anything is moved or repaired.

4. Write down the names of witnesses, the general contractor and every subcontractor on the site.

5. Ask in writing that the device be kept, not repaired or thrown away.

6. Give no recorded statement to the owner's or contractors' insurer before legal advice.

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A private employer must report a work-related death to OSHA within 8 hours, and an in-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye within 24 hours (29 CFR 1904.39). In New York City, a property's Department of Buildings violations can be viewed in its Buildings Information System.

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What a construction accident lawsuit can recover, and what it is worth

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Unlike comp, the lawsuit can recover pain and suffering, full lost earnings and future care. There is no honest average settlement; value depends on the injury, its permanence, the Labor Law claims and the insurance available.

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If a worker is killed, the estate can also sue for wrongful death and for the worker's conscious pain and suffering (EPTL 11-3.2(b)); see wrongful death claims.

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Fees, and how to choose a construction accident lawyer

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There is no fee unless money is recovered for you; in most cases the fee is one-third of the net recovery. The fee and the handling of case expenses are set out in a written retainer agreement. The first consultation is free, and Reza Yassi can meet you at home or in the hospital when an injury makes travel hard.

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Ask any lawyer you consider:

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• Who will handle my case day to day?

• How will you find the Industrial Code rules that fit my accident?

• How will the comp lien be handled when the case resolves?

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At Yassi Law P.C., you deal directly with Reza Yassi.

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Guides on this topic

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• Falling through an unguarded elevator shaft: who pays under Labor Law § 240(1): how a floor-opening fall becomes a claim against the owner and general contractor.

• Trench collapse: why a Labor Law § 241(6) case depends on the Industrial Code: why the exact Industrial Code rule decides a cave-in claim.

• Crane accident in New York: suing beyond workers' comp: suing the owner, contractor and crane companies after a dropped load.

• Grave injury under Workers' Compensation Law § 11: when the companies you sue can bring your employer back into the case.

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Frequently asked questions

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Can I sue if I get workers' comp for a construction injury?

Yes. You can collect comp and also sue an owner, contractor or other company, other than your employer or a co-worker, whose negligence or Labor Law violation caused the injury (Workers' Compensation Law § 29(1)). If you take comp, sue within six months of the award and within one year of the accident, or the carrier can take over the claim after written notice.

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What is the difference between Labor Law 240(1) and 241(6)?

Section 240(1) covers gravity-related accidents, such as falls from a height and loads that fall because they were not properly hoisted or secured. Section 241(6) covers construction, excavation and demolition hazards of any kind, falls included, but only through a specific Industrial Code rule, and your own share of fault can reduce the award.

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Does comparative negligence apply to a Labor Law 241(6) claim?

Yes. Your share of fault reduces a § 241(6) award but does not bar it (CPLR 1411(a)). Under § 240(1), it is no defense once a violation that caused the accident is proved, but there is no liability where there was no violation and your own conduct was the sole cause.

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I fell off a ladder at work. Can I claim?

You can claim workers' comp. You may also have a § 240(1) claim against the owner or general contractor if you were doing construction, repair, painting or similar work on a building or structure and the ladder did not give proper protection, for example because it slipped or was not secured. Routine maintenance is generally not covered.

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Has New York's Scaffold Law been reformed?

Not as of November 2026. Labor Law § 240(1) still places the duty to provide proper safety devices on owners, contractors and their agents.

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How long do I have to file a construction accident lawsuit in New York?

Generally three years against a private owner or contractor (CPLR 214(5)). If the City or another municipality owns the site, a notice of claim is due within 90 days and the lawsuit within one year and 90 days. If you are taking comp, sue within the Workers' Compensation Law § 29(1) window, or the carrier can take over the claim after giving you written notice.

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If you or a family member was seriously hurt on a construction site in New York City or on Long Island, call Reza Yassi at (646) 992-2138 or contact the firm for a free consultation.