Workers' Comp Laws in New York

If you were hurt on the job in New York, two deadlines matter more than anything else on this page: telling your employer within 30 days, and filing your own claim with the Workers' Compensation Board within 2 years. Treat both as hard deadlines and act early. But if one of them has already passed, do not assume your claim is dead — the Workers' Compensation Law itself contains excuses and waivers that have saved late claims, and they are explained below. Everything here explains what to do and why.

What to do first

1. Get medical care. In an emergency, go to any provider or hospital. For ongoing, non-emergency treatment, New York requires you to see a health care provider authorized by the Workers' Compensation Board (more on this below).
2. Tell your employer within 30 days of the injury — in writing. Give the date, time, and how it happened. The Board warns that if 30 days pass and you have not notified your employer, you may lose your right to workers' compensation benefits. An email, text, or written note you keep a copy of is safer than a verbal report alone. If you are already past 30 days, keep reading — late notice is not always a bar (see below).
3. File your own claim with the Workers' Compensation Board. Reporting the injury to your employer and filing a claim with the Board are two separate steps — you need to do both. You file an Employee Claim (Form C-3) online, by mail, or in person at a Board office. Don't wait for your employer or its insurer to do this for you.
4. Keep records. Save copies of medical bills, your written notice to your employer, and any correspondence with the insurance carrier.

New York's workers' compensation agency

Workers' compensation claims in New York are handled by the New York State Workers' Compensation Board (WCB), the state agency that processes claims, holds hearings, resolves disputes, authorizes medical providers, and enforces coverage requirements. Its official site is wcb.ny.gov, and the Board's Injured Worker's Toolkit collects the forms and guides you are most likely to need.

Who is covered

Under the Workers' Compensation Law, virtually all employers in New York must carry workers' compensation coverage for their employees — there is no small-employer headcount exemption of the kind some states have. Coverage generally applies to full-time and part-time employees, temporary and seasonal workers, borrowed and leased employees, paid family members, and student interns.

The Board identifies some categories that are not required to be covered, including:

• Sole proprietors with no employees, and partnerships, LLCs, and LLPs with no employees (they may choose to cover themselves voluntarily)
• One- or two-person corporations where those individuals own all of the stock and hold all of the offices
• Clergy performing only religious duties
• Unpaid volunteers at nonprofit organizations, and amateur athletes in nonprofit supervised activities
• Domestic/household workers who work fewer than 40 hours a week for the same employer and do not live on the premises
• Licensed real estate agents, licensed insurance agents, and media sales representatives who meet specific contract requirements

New York is not a monopolistic state fund state. Employers may buy coverage from a private insurance carrier, from the New York State Insurance Fund (NYSIF, a public carrier that must insure any employer that asks), or self-insure if they qualify. If you're not sure whether your job is covered, ask your employer or contact the Board.

The 30-day notice to your employer — and when a late notice is excused

Give your employer written notice within 30 days of the accident. That is what Workers' Compensation Law § 18 requires, and it is the safe path. Do it now if you have not.

But § 18 does not make late notice an automatic loss. The statute says failure to give notice bars the claim "unless excused by the board" — and the Board may excuse it on any of three grounds:

• Notice "for some sufficient reason could not have been given" — for example, you were hospitalized, incapacitated, or otherwise genuinely unable to give notice.
• The employer already knew. If the employer, or an agent in charge of the business or in charge of the work where the injury happened, or a supervisor of the injured worker, "had knowledge of the accident," the Board may excuse the missing notice. A boss who saw the accident, or who sent you to the clinic, is knowledge.
• The employer was not prejudiced. The Board may excuse the failure if "the employer has not been prejudiced thereby" — meaning the late notice did not actually harm the employer's ability to investigate or defend.

On top of that, § 18 makes the employer and its insurance carrier waive the late-notice objection unless they raise it "before the board on the first hearing of the claim ... at which all parties in interest are present, or represented, and at which the claimant ... testifies." If they sit on the objection, they lose it.

None of this is a reason to delay. It is a reason not to give up if you already have. You can read the statute yourself at NY Workers' Compensation Law § 18.

The deadline to file your claim — and its exceptions

You generally have 2 years to file Form C-3 with the Workers' Compensation Board (Workers' Compensation Law § 28). For an accidental injury, the clock runs from the date of the accident.

For an occupational disease, the claim must be filed within two years after disablement and after you knew or should have known that the disease is or was due to the nature of your employment. In other words, the clock is measured from the later of those two events — disablement and knowledge — not from knowledge alone, and not from a long-ago first exposure. Certain dust and exposure diseases (including silicosis and other dust diseases, compressed air illness, and latent conditions from substances such as arsenic, benzol, beryllium, cadmium, chrome, lead, or fluorine, as well as radiation exposure) are handled under their own provisions in § 28; if your condition is one of these, ask the Board how the timing applies to you.

As with the notice rule, the 2-year filing period is not an absolute bar:

• Waiver. The employer and insurance carrier are "deemed to have waived the bar of the statute" unless the objection to the late filing "is raised on the first hearing on such claim at which all parties in interest are present."
• Advance payment. "No case in which an advance payment is made to an employee or to his dependents in case of death shall be barred by the failure of the employee or his dependents to file a claim." If the employer or carrier paid you compensation — including, in many cases, wages or medical treatment paid on account of the injury — a late filing may not bar you at all.

So: file as soon as you reasonably can, and remember that this filing deadline is separate from — and in addition to — the 30-day notice to your employer. But if you are past two years, file anyway and raise these provisions; do not walk away on the assumption that the door is closed. The statute is at NY Workers' Compensation Law § 28.

Medical care: who picks your doctor

This is one of the most misunderstood parts of the system. In New York, you choose your own treating provider — but with an important condition:

• Except in an emergency, your provider must be authorized by the Workers' Compensation Board to treat injured workers. In a true emergency, you can be treated by any provider.
• Board-authorized providers include physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, chiropractors, podiatrists, psychologists, physical and occupational therapists, acupuncturists, dentists, optometrists, and licensed clinical social workers, each practicing within their own scope.
• You can find one through the Board's Health Care Provider and IME Search, or by calling the Board at (800) 781-2362. Your own doctor can treat you if he or she is Board-authorized.
• PPO exception: if your employer or its insurer uses a Preferred Provider Organization, you must be notified in writing, and you must get your initial treatment from a provider in that network. After 30 days from the date of initial treatment, you may switch to any Board-authorized provider outside the PPO by notifying the insurer in writing.
• Unionized construction workers covered by the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system must use providers who participate in the ADR program.

If you're unsure whether the provider you want to see is authorized, check the Board's provider search or ask the provider before your appointment — non-emergency treatment from an unauthorized provider can create payment problems later.

Wage replacement benefits

If your injury keeps you out of work, New York calculates the lost-wage benefit as two-thirds (2/3) of your average weekly wage, multiplied by your percentage of disability. Your degree of disability comes from the medical reports of your treating provider. As the Board explains on its Lost Wage Benefits page, "the degrees of disability range from total (100%), marked (75%), moderate (50%), or mild (25%) and various levels in between."

Waiting period: lost-wage benefits are not paid for the first 7 days of the disability — unless the disability lasts more than 14 days, in which case you may be paid back to the first work day you were unable to work. So that first week is not permanently lost if the injury turns out to be more serious than it first looked.

When payments start: if the claim is not disputed, the insurer is generally required to begin payments within 18 days after the injury, or within 10 days after the employer learned of the injury, whichever is later.

Maximum benefit: New York sets a maximum weekly benefit that adjusts every July 1, based on the prior year's New York State Average Weekly Wage. The rate that applies to your claim is set by your date of injury and does not increase later if a higher maximum is adopted. Because that dollar figure changes annually, confirm the current maximum directly with the Workers' Compensation Board rather than relying on any number you see elsewhere.

Permanent disability

If an injury leaves you with lasting effects once you have recovered as much as you are going to, New York generally evaluates permanency in one of two ways:

• Schedule Loss of Use (SLU): used for permanent loss of use of certain body parts (such as an arm, leg, hand, foot, or eye). The Workers' Compensation Law contains a schedule setting the maximum number of weeks of benefits for each body part, and your award depends on the body part and the degree of loss.
• Non-schedule (classification): used for permanent conditions the schedule does not cover. These awards are based on your permanent loss of wage-earning capacity. For accidents or dates of disablement on or after March 13, 2007, non-schedule benefits are payable for a maximum number of weeks determined by that loss of wage-earning capacity.

Which category applies, and the percentage involved, turns on medical evidence — your treating provider's reports, the Board's permanent impairment guidelines, and often an independent medical exam.

If your claim is denied

Disputes in New York are first decided by a Workers' Compensation Law Judge (WCLJ), usually at a hearing. If you disagree with the judge's decision:

• File an Application for Board Review (Form RB-89) within 30 days of the filing date of the judge's decision. A panel of three Board members reviews the case and issues a written decision.
• After a Board panel decision, you may seek review by the Full Board, and/or appeal to the Appellate Division, Third Department of the New York State Supreme Court — generally within 30 days after the panel decision is served on the parties.

These 30-day windows move fast. If your claim is denied or you disagree with an award, mark the deadline the day you get the decision and get help right away.

If you already missed the 30 days: the Board publishes a procedure for asking a panel to accept a late Application for Board Review in the interest of justice. In short, you cross out the "within thirty days of the filing of the decision" language in the certification (affidavit/affirmation) section of the RB-89, and explain in the form or an attached brief why the late application should be considered. Whether to accept it is entirely up to the Board panel — it is discretionary, not a right — but the door is not necessarily shut. The Board's appeals page explains the process.

Where to get free help in New York

• Office of the Advocate for Injured Workers (New York State Workers' Compensation Board) — a free service that helps injured workers get the benefits and medical care they are entitled to, and answers questions about claims, hearings, and appeal rights. Call (877) 632-4996 or email AdvInjWkr@wcb.ny.gov. Free interpretation is available at no cost.
• Health Care Provider and IME Search — find a Board-authorized provider at wcb.ny.gov, or call the Board at (800) 781-2362.
• Local legal aid and civil legal services organizations may also offer free or low-cost help with a workers' compensation dispute, particularly for lower-income workers.

This article provides general legal information about New York law, not legal advice for your specific situation. For guidance on your own claim, contact the New York State Workers' Compensation Board or a qualified professional.