Please send a message to your legislators and urge them to support much-needed Scaffold Law reform, and sponsor legislation calling for reforms.

The only-in-New York Scaffold Law is devastating our state's economy and civil justice system. The antiquated Scaffold Law is the last of its kind in the country. By holding property owners and contractors absolutely liable in lawsuits for gravity-related worksite injuries, the law promotes litigation and drives up insurance rates for both public and private sector construction projects. It has gotten so bad that many insurance carriers will no longer write policies in our state. Proponents claim the law is about safety but researchers at Cornell University found that the law actually correlates with an increase in worksite injuries. 

To be clear, this is not just a contractor issue; our schools, bridges, and municipalities are all negatively impacted. The money wasted on this law should be spent on building schools, maintaining parks, repairing roads, and putting New Yorkers back to work.

Please send a message to your legislators and urge them to support Scaffold Law reform, and sponsor legislation calling for reforms. We propose that the law be updated from the unjust "absolute liability" standard to a more reasonable "comparative negligence" standard - just as it is done in every other state and every other aspect of our civil justice system.

We need jobs, safety, and justice - not sky-high insurance rates and expensive lawsuits.