Construction Accident Lawyer in Fresh Meadows, NY

Free consultation · No fee unless we win · Hablamos Español

The Work Being Done Here

Retail turnover keeps contractors busy at Fresh Meadows Place, the shopping center at the Horace Harding Expressway and 188th Street, and along the Union Turnpike commercial strip. Interior demolition, ceiling and electrical work, signage installation and storefront replacement all happen in occupied areas, often at night or around store hours. The neighborhood's garden-apartment complexes need roofing, masonry and window work, and single-family homes on the side streets see additions and renovations year-round.

Each setting brings its own hazards. In a store renovation it is often a falling object — a ceiling panel, a light fixture, a section of ductwork — or an unsecured ladder on a polished floor. On apartment roofs it is the edge. On houses it is ladders and scaffolds set up on uneven ground.

Falling Objects and the Scaffold Law

The Scaffold Law, Labor Law §240(1), is best known for falls from height, but it also covers workers struck by objects that fall because they were not properly hoisted or secured. If a load being lifted to a mezzanine slips from its rigging, or materials stacked overhead without any securing device come down on you, the owner and general contractor can be responsible even though no one meant for it to happen. What matters is whether the right safety device was used and whether its absence caused the injury. We explain the rule in more depth in our guide to the Scaffold Law.

Specific Safety Rules: Labor Law §241(6)

Commercial renovation is where Labor Law §241(6) matters most. That section makes owners and contractors responsible when a worker is hurt because a specific provision of the state Industrial Code was violated. In practice that means rules about tripping hazards and debris on floors and passageways, slippery conditions, electrical safety, guarding of openings and the use of power tools. A worker who trips over a pile of demolition debris in a store under renovation, or is shocked by a live circuit that should have been de-energized, may have a claim under this section.

Who Pays: Compensation Plus a Separate Claim

Your employer's workers' compensation coverage pays medical treatment and a portion of lost wages. Report the injury to your employer in writing within 30 days, and file the compensation claim within two years. Those benefits usually prevent you from suing your own employer — but the property owner, the shopping center's owner or manager, the general contractor and other subcontractors are not your employer, and a Labor Law claim can be brought against them. Our workers' compensation page explains how the two run side by side.

If You Were Not a Worker

Shoppers and passersby are hurt by construction too — a falling tool, an unmarked hole in a sidewalk, debris left in a walkway. Those claims are not under the Labor Law, which protects workers; they are ordinary negligence claims against the contractor and the property owner, and New York City's building rules on protecting the public around construction sites often help show what should have been done.

After an Accident on the Job

• Get medical care right away and tell the doctor it happened at work and exactly how. NewYork-Presbyterian Queens and Queens Hospital Center are the closest emergency departments.
• Report the accident to your supervisor and keep a copy of anything you sign.
• Note who ran the job: the general contractor's name on the permit posted at the site, the subcontractor who employed you, and the store or building involved.
• Photograph the ladder, the scaffold, the debris or the opening that caused the fall, if you can do so safely.
• Keep your pay stubs, and your Site Safety Training card if you have one.

Fresh Meadows is in the NYPD's 107th Precinct, which usually becomes involved only if there is a death or a crime. The more important investigations are by the NYC Department of Buildings and, for serious injuries, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Deadlines and the Court

A lawsuit against an owner or contractor generally must be filed within three years under CPLR §214. Where a city agency owns the project, a notice of claim is due within 90 days. Construction cases from Fresh Meadows are filed at Queens County Supreme Court, Civil Term in Jamaica.

Talk to Us

Our office is in Fresh Meadows, on Union Turnpike. The consultation is free, and there is no fee unless we win. See our construction and work injury practice or meet the people on our team page.

Davidov & Cohen Law, PLLC
185-22 Union Tpke, Suite 203
Fresh Meadows, NY 11366
(718) 328-8001

Nearby: construction accidents in Jamaica, car accidents in Jamaica Estates and car accidents in Oakland Gardens.

Common questions

I was installing a sign over a store entrance and the ladder slipped. Is that covered?

It can be. Installing signage is often treated as alteration work covered by the Labor Law, and a ladder that slips because it was not secured or footed is the kind of failure Labor Law §240(1) addresses. The details of the job and the ladder matter.

I work for a cleaning company and was hurt in a store under renovation. Am I covered?

Possibly. The Labor Law protects people doing construction-related work, and courts look at what you were actually doing when you were hurt. Even if the Labor Law does not apply, a general negligence claim against the contractor may.

Can I talk to someone in Spanish?

Yes. Hablamos Español. Call (718) 328-8001.

This page is general information about New York law for workers in Fresh Meadows, Queens. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case depends on its own facts. Attorney Advertising.