Michael Rose outlines labor law section 200 and how it relates to construction accident injury claims.
The basic concept is, if you're a construction worker and you're injured in the course of your employment in New York, because you receive workers' compensation benefits, you're not entitled to bring a claim against your employer. However, based on the labor law, it places a responsibility on owners and contractors to keep construction sites safe. Essentially, it's a general negligence statute.
In circumstances where an owner or contractor does something that causes a person's injury, or fails to take proper safety precautions, that gives you the ability to bring a claim against a third party, other than your employer, for pain and suffering, full lost wages, benefits such as pension, annuity, medical expenses, future medical expenses - things that someone wouldn't have the ability to recover in a workers' compensation claim.