NYC Law Department Workers’ Comp Provider Phone Numbers

The NYC Law Department Workers’ Compensation Division phone number is (718) 724-5500. That single line handles most questions a covered city employee has about a workers’ comp claim: whether the city has accepted or contested the case, what happened at the last hearing, why payments were discontinued, address changes, and general benefit explanations.¹

Full Contact Information for the Law Department

The Workers’ Compensation Division sits inside the NYC Law Department, which acts as the city’s defense counsel on comp claims. You can reach the division through any of the following:

Phone: (718) 724-5500
Email: workerscompensation@law.nyc.gov
Fax: (718) 724-5497
Address: 350 Jay Street, 9th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Phone is the fastest option for status questions. Email works well when you need to send a written record of an address change or a document request.²

What the Law Department Can and Can’t Answer

Because the Law Department represents the city as the employer, its staff focuses on the legal side of your claim. Representatives can tell you whether the city is contesting your case, where things stand procedurally, and what the next hearing date is. They do not approve medical treatment, authorize prescriptions, or cut checks.

If you call (718) 724-5500 with a question outside that lane, the staff can usually point you to the correct office or third-party administrator. But you’ll get an answer sooner by starting with the right number, so it helps to know which office handles what.

When to Call the Comptroller Instead

Payment problems go to a different office entirely. The NYC Comptroller’s workers’ compensation unit handles check cancellations, reissuance of lost or expired checks, EFT payment questions, and death-notice processing. Reach that unit at:

Phone: (212) 669-2448
Email: WorkersCompensation@comptroller.nyc.gov
Fax: (212) 815-8620

The split is straightforward. If a specific check is missing, late, or needs to be reissued, call the Comptroller. If payments have stopped entirely and you want to know why, or you’re not sure whether your claim is still active, call the Law Department. Calling the wrong office first is one of the most common reasons injured city workers say they got the runaround.²

When to Call the State Workers’ Compensation Board

The New York State Workers’ Compensation Board is the neutral agency that oversees the system. Its statewide number is (877) 632-4996.³

Call the Board when you want information from a source that isn’t representing either side. Good reasons to call the Board include hearing schedules, filing questions, questions about your rights and deadlines, and disputes over how your weekly benefit was calculated. The Board is the referee; the Law Department is one of the parties in front of that referee.

Medical Treatment and Pharmacy Questions

Medical authorizations and the network of approved physicians are managed by third-party organizations under contract with the city, not by Law Department attorneys. If you need approval for a procedure, want to confirm whether a specific doctor is in-network, or have a prescription drug question, call (718) 724-5500 and ask to be directed to the current third-party provider. The Law Department maintains those contacts and can give you the right number.

Treatment for a New York workers’ comp injury has to follow the Medical Treatment Guidelines adopted by the Workers’ Compensation Board, which cover the neck, back, shoulder, knee, and other body areas. Care outside those guidelines generally requires a variance.⁴

What to Have in Front of You Before You Call

A few identifiers will save you a callback. The most important is your Workers’ Compensation Board case number, an eight-digit number in which the first digit is the WCB district office, the next two are the year the case was indexed, and the last five are a sequence number.⁵ If you don’t have it, you can request it by calling (718) 724-5500.¹

Also useful:

Your Law Department claim number, which is different from the WCB case number and appears on correspondence from the city’s legal team
The exact date of injury, or the date you first realized a condition was work-related
The name of your employing agency
Your C-3 form and any recent hearing notices

Naming the agency precisely matters. The Law Department handles claims for many agencies, and “I work for the city” won’t narrow the file down. Say Department of Education, NYC Health + Hospitals, CUNY, or whichever agency actually issues your paycheck.

Who This Office Does Not Cover

The Law Department’s Workers’ Compensation Division administers claims for covered city employees, including non-pedagogical employees of the Department of Education, all employees of NYC Health + Hospitals, and all employees of the City University of New York.⁶

Three groups are outside this system: uniformed police officers, uniformed firefighters, and uniformed sanitation workers. Those employees have separate benefit structures, and (718) 724-5500 is not the right number for them. If you’re in one of those categories, contact your agency’s personnel office.⁶

1
NYC Health + Hospitals. Workers’ Compensation Frequently Asked Questions
2
Office of the New York City Comptroller. Workers Compensation
3
NYS Workers’ Compensation Board. NYS WCB Contact Information
4
New York State Workers’ Compensation Board. Medical Treatment Guidelines Overview
5
Social Security Administration. New York Workers’ Compensation (WC)
6
NYC.gov. Workers’ Compensation – Law Department