It’s a longstanding and epic struggle, with billions of dollars at stake. No, it’s not the latest reality TV show. It’s the New York construction industry and its ongoing battle with Labor Law 240, otherwise known as the Scaffold Law.

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If you’re familiar with the construction industry in New York, you probably have a strong opinion about the state’s scaffold law. More formally known as New York’s Labor Law 240, the scaffold law holds contractors, property owners and developers 100 percent liable for gravity-related accidents and injuries. This absolute liability holds even when the injured workers was primarily responsible for the accident.

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Although we often talk about cause and effect, the truth is that the average effect has multiple causes, not just one. A car accident, for example, might be the fault of one driver’s inattention and the other driver’s failure to signal, as well as the weather and road conditions. Similarly, a construction worker’s on-the-job injury can often be pinned on multiple factors. Nevertheless, in some case, the sole proximate cause defense – which argues that the injured worker is solely responsible for the injuries sustained – can be successful in a Scaffold Law case.

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Property owners and construction contractors feeling the financial stress of New York State’s Scaffold Law may have some relief soon. New legislation introduced by Congressman John Faso would offset the state’s strict liability standard and the resulting costs for construction. Called the Infrastructure Expansion Act, the new law would create a liability standard of comparative negligence for construction projects receiving federal funding. Multiple organizations in the construction industry have already expressed support for the proposal.

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New York’s 120-year-old Scaffold Law severely limits development in the state, costs taxpayers millions of dollars unnecessarily, drives up insurance premiums, and profits only trial lawyers, all while doing nothing to make worksites any safer.

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