New York Workers’ Comp Statute of Limitations: Notice and Filing

The New York workers’ comp statute of limitations gives you two years from the date of your workplace accident to file a formal claim with the Workers’ Compensation Board. Before that clock matters, you face a shorter one: 30 days to notify your employer in writing. Miss either deadline and you can lose your right to benefits entirely, though the law recognizes several exceptions, and occupational diseases, hearing loss, and death claims follow their own modified timelines.

The 30-Day Written Notice to Your Employer

Under Section 18 of the Workers’ Compensation Law, you have 30 days from the accident to give your employer written notice of the injury. The notice must include your name, address, and a plain description of when, where, and how the injury happened, and it must be signed by you or someone acting on your behalf.¹

Delivery matters too. The statute requires the notice to reach the employer directly, either by hand or by registered mail to the last known business address. For a corporation, it goes to an officer or authorized agent. For a partnership, to any partner. Handing a note to the coworker next to you does not satisfy the statute.¹

When Late Notice Can Be Excused

Missing the 30-day window does not automatically end your claim. The Board can excuse late notice on any of three grounds:

You had a sufficient reason it could not have been given on time, such as being hospitalized or otherwise incapacitated.
Your employer or an on-site supervisor already had actual knowledge of the accident.
The employer was not prejudiced by the delay.

There is a second layer of protection that catches many employers off guard. Even where notice was late or defective, the employer and insurance carrier are considered to have waived the objection unless they raise it at the first hearing where all parties are present and the claimant testifies. Sit through that hearing without objecting, and the notice issue is off the table.¹

The Two-Year Filing Deadline

Section 28 is the main statute of limitations. It bars your right to compensation unless you file a claim with the Board within two years of the accident. If the injury proves fatal, dependents have two years from the date of death.²

This deadline sits on top of the 30-day employer notice, not in place of it. You need to do both. The employer notice alerts the company; the Board filing opens a legal case and generates a case number. One does not substitute for the other.

Section 28 carries one significant built-in exception. If the employer makes an advance payment of compensation or pays for your medical treatment, your claim cannot be barred for failure to file on time, and the Board can open a hearing on the case as if you had filed the paperwork. This matters in practice because many employers will send an injured worker to a doctor or cover initial costs without a formal claim on file. That payment keeps your rights alive.²

How to File the Claim

You establish your formal claim by submitting the Employee Claim, Form C-3, through the Workers’ Compensation Board. The Board’s current instructions require electronic submission through its online portal; the form cannot be mailed.³

The form asks for the date and time of the injury, the exact location, a description of what you were doing when you got hurt, and which body parts were affected. You provide your employer’s name and address and list your treating doctors or hospitals.⁴ Vague descriptions of how the accident happened, or of which body parts were injured, are the most common source of delay at hearings. Have your medical records and doctor contact information in front of you when you file.

Occupational Disease Deadlines Run Differently

Injuries that develop gradually, such as carpal tunnel from repetitive tasks or lung disease from toxic exposure, follow a different clock. For occupational diseases, the two-year filing deadline starts on the later of two dates: the date you became disabled, or the date you knew (or reasonably should have known) that the disease was connected to your job.⁵

The employer-notice rule is modified too. Under Section 45, you must notify the employer within two years of disablement or within two years of when you knew or should have known the disease was work-related, whichever comes later. The notice itself follows the same Section 18 format: written, signed, and delivered to the employer or an authorized agent.⁶

The “should have known” standard is where these cases get complicated. A doctor mentioning that your breathing problems might be related to workplace dust exposure can start the clock, even before a definitive diagnosis. If you have any reason to suspect a health problem is connected to your work, treat that as the starting gun.

Hearing Loss Has Its Own Timeline

Occupational hearing loss is governed by Section 49-bb. Compensation does not become payable until three months after you are removed from harmful noise at work, or three months after you leave the employer where you were exposed. The waiting period exists because hearing can fluctuate immediately after noise exposure stops, and the law requires a stabilization window before assessing permanent loss.⁷

The standard two-year Section 28 filing deadline applies, with an extra safety net. Even if you miss the two-year window, your claim is not barred as long as you file within 90 days after learning that your hearing loss was caused by your job. The 90-day extension recognizes that many workers do not connect gradual hearing decline to workplace noise until years after exposure.⁷

Death Claims Filed by Dependents

When a workplace injury or occupational disease proves fatal, dependents have two years from the date of death to file for death benefits with the Board.² The 30-day Section 18 written notice also applies: a dependent or someone acting on their behalf must notify the employer within 30 days of the death.¹

The same excuses for late notice apply. If the employer already knew, if the dependent had a sufficient reason for the delay, or if the employer was not prejudiced, the Board can excuse the missed deadline. The advance-payment exception also carries over: if the employer or insurer has already made payments related to the claim, failure to file on time is not a bar.

Third-Party Lawsuits Follow Separate Deadlines

Workers’ compensation and personal injury lawsuits are not the same thing, and their deadlines run independently. If someone other than your employer caused your workplace injury, such as a negligent driver, a defective equipment manufacturer, or a subcontractor on a construction site, you may have a separate right to sue that third party. New York’s general statute of limitations for personal injury is three years from the date of injury.⁸

If you are also collecting workers’ compensation benefits, Section 29 adds a tighter constraint. You must start the third-party lawsuit within six months after compensation is awarded, and in no case later than one year from the date the cause of action accrues. Fail to sue within that window and your right to bring the lawsuit transfers to your employer’s insurance carrier, which can then pursue the claim in your name to recover the benefits it paid.⁹

When the Filing Clock Pauses

Section 115 pauses all filing deadlines for two groups: minors and individuals who are mentally incompetent. The clock does not run as long as the person has no legal guardian or committee appointed to act on their behalf. Once a guardian is appointed, the standard deadlines begin.¹⁰

Active-duty military service may also pause deadlines under the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, which tolls statutes of limitations for service members whose military duties materially affect their ability to participate in civil proceedings. A worker called to active duty before filing should not lose rights simply because deployment prevented timely paperwork.

The Section 28 advance-payment exception functions as another form of protection. When an employer pays for medical treatment or provides compensation before a formal filing, the Board treats the case as though a claim was filed. Technically it is a waiver of the filing requirement rather than tolling, but the practical effect is the same: your claim stays alive.²

Reopening a Closed Case

A workers’ compensation case that was denied or closed without an award can be reopened, but only within specific windows. Under Section 25-a, if seven years have passed since the injury and no compensation was ever awarded, you can still apply to reopen. If compensation was paid at some point but stopped, the case can be reopened after seven years from the injury date and three years from the last payment. Reopened cases are paid from a special state fund rather than by the original employer’s insurer.¹¹

There is an absolute outer limit. No award can be made if the application comes more than 18 years after the injury and more than 8 years after the last payment of compensation. After that, the door closes permanently. A reopening application must be submitted on the Board’s prescribed form and, if based on a change in medical condition, must include a verified medical report supporting the request.¹¹

1
New York State Senate. New York Workers Compensation Law 18 – Notice of Injury or Death
2
New York State Senate. New York Workers Compensation Law 28 – Limitation of Right to Compensation
3
New York State Workers’ Compensation Board. Online Form Submission
4
Workers’ Compensation Board. Employee Claim (Form C-3)
5
New York State Workers’ Compensation Board. Occupational Disease
6
New York State Senate. New York Workers Compensation Law 45 – Notice to Employers
7
New York State Senate. New York Workers Compensation Law 49-BB – Waiting Period, Date of Disablement, Payment of Compensation
8
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules 214 – Actions to Be Commenced Within Three Years
9
New York State Senate. New York Workers Compensation Law 29 – Remedies of Employees, Subrogation
10
New York State Senate. New York Workers Compensation Law 115 – Limitation of Time
11
New York State Senate. New York Workers Compensation Law 25-A