New York Construction Workers Urged to Understand Legal Rights Following Job Site Accidents

The Perecman Firm, PLLC, a New York City personal injury law firm with more than 40 years of experience, is urging construction workers, bystanders, and contractors to understand and assert their legal rights following preventable job-site accidents. Construction sites present some of the highest risks for serious injury in the region, and many workers may have legal options beyond standard workers' compensation claims.

According to Steven Dorfman, Managing Legal Officer at The Perecman Firm, every time a worker is injured on a construction site, there is often a chain of responsible parties including subcontractors, general contractors, property owners, and equipment manufacturers. Far too many workers believe they're limited to filing only a workers' compensation claim when they often have the right to bring a personal injury lawsuit that includes pain and suffering, lost future wages, and full medical expenses.

The firm emphasizes several critical steps injured workers should take to protect their legal options. Workers should report the accident to their supervisor or site manager immediately and obtain an accident report, seek immediate medical attention while maintaining clear records of all treatments and bills, and preserve the job site condition by photographing equipment, scaffolding, guardrails, ladders, exposed wiring, and other hazardous setups. The firm also advises contacting an experienced construction-accident attorney before providing statements to insurance adjusters, as adjuster statements can be used to deny or reduce compensation.

Time limitations are crucial in these cases. In New York, most personal injury lawsuits must be filed within three years of the accident, while workers' compensation claims follow different timelines, and government entity claims may have far shorter deadlines. The Perecman Firm team brings together litigation attorneys, former investigators and engineers, and deep familiarity with the special protections afforded to construction workers under New York's Labor Law, including Section 240(1) (the Scaffold Law), Section 241(6), and Section 200.

These laws allow injured workers to hold property owners, contractors, and others responsible for failing to provide proper safety protections, applying in many cases even if the employer itself was not negligent directly. The firm handles the full spectrum of construction accident claims, ranging from falls from heights and scaffold or ladder collapses to electrocutions, struck-by-object incidents, crane collisions, trench or hoist mishaps, and more. With a track record of multi-million-dollar recoveries for injured workers, the firm's message underscores that construction workers have significant legal protections when safety protocols fail on job sites. For more information, visit https://www.perecman.com.