New York Workers Compensation Alliance

The New York State Workers' Compensation Alliance is a coalition of injured workers and other stakeholders committed to protecting the rights of injured workers under the New York State Workers' Compensation Law.

Injured workers in New York are constantly under attack by large corporate and insurance company lobbyists. The so-called workers' compensation "reforms" hastily pushed through by former Governor Eliot Spitzer in 2007 were anti-worker and a boon to strong business interests in Albany. The Workers' Compensation Alliiance, through traditional and internet grass-roots efforts, seeks to level the playing field for the sole benefit of injured workers in New York state.

Prior to 1914, a worker injured on the job could sue his employer for lost wages. This often led to long litigation which benefited neither the injured worker nor the employer. After the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, in which over 100 workers perished, the New York State Legislature forged a historic compromise between injured workers and employers. In return for workers giving up their right to sue their employers for on-the-job injuries, employers were required to furnish quick compensation and medical care to the worker. In many instances, this was done by the employer purchasing a workers' compensation insurance policy. This system has worked well for almost 100 years, despite increasing dangers in the workplace.

However, the workers' compesation system continues to be under assault in New York by both business interests and New York State government. The New York Workers' Compensation Alliance will defend injured workers against all those, be they business or political figures, who would have the audacity to harm some of the most vulnerable among us - injured workers.