I Was Hurt on a Brooklyn Construction Site and I Do Not Have Legal Immigration Status. Can I Still File a Claim Without Putting Myself at Risk?

Yes. In New York you can file an injury claim after a construction accident no matter your immigration status, and filing does not report you to immigration or require a Social Security number. Your right to workers' compensation, and in many construction cases a separate New York Labor Law lawsuit against the contractor and the property owner, does not depend on having legal status. New York courts generally keep your immigration status out of the injury case, and the state's highest court has held that an injured worker can recover even when that worker is undocumented.

Reviewed by Alexander Karasik, Esq., Personal Injury | Last Updated: August 2026

The fear is real, and it is the reason many injured workers stay silent while the medical bills pile up and the time limit on their claim runs out. The rest of this answers the questions that come right after that first one, in the order they usually arrive.

Filing a construction injury claim is not a report to immigration. A workers' compensation claim goes to the New York State Workers' Compensation Board, and an injury lawsuit is filed in state civil court. Those are separate systems from federal immigration enforcement, and neither one exists to check your status or hand it to anyone.

You do not need a Social Security number or a green card to file. The Workers' Compensation Board processes claims without asking about immigration status, and a personal injury lawsuit turns on how you were hurt and who was responsible, not on your papers. The people with the strongest reason to raise your status are the contractor and the insurance company you are making a claim against, because fear keeps you from filing. That pressure is a tactic, and it is one an attorney can shut down.

Usually it stays out of it. New York courts have generally held that an injured worker's immigration status is not a defense to a construction accident claim, and judges often issue protective orders that bar the other side from digging into your status or using it to intimidate you, because it has little to do with how a scaffold gave way or a ladder was left unsecured.

This is settled at the highest level in the state. New York's Court of Appeals has held that an undocumented construction worker can recover damages, including lost wages, for a job-site injury. In plain terms, the case is about the danger on the site and who was responsible for it, not your papers. Alexander Karasik, Esq. handles the contact with the contractors and the insurer directly, so if anyone tries to steer the case toward your status instead of your injury, that move is met and answered.

Most job injuries are covered by workers' compensation, which pays for your medical treatment and a portion of your lost wages, but nothing for pain and suffering. New York gives construction workers more than that. When you fall from a scaffold or a ladder, get struck by a falling object, or are hurt because a site was left unsafe, New York Labor Law 240, 241, and 200 let you bring a separate lawsuit against the general contractor and the property owner, outside the workers' comp system.

That second case is where the real value often lives, because it can recover your full lost wages, all of your medical care, and your pain and suffering, none of which workers' comp pays in full. Your own employer usually cannot be sued directly, but the contractors and owners who controlled the site frequently can, and more than one insurance policy can be on the hook. This third-party Labor Law claim is the core of a Brooklyn construction accident claim, and your immigration status does not change your right to bring it. You can read more about what you can recover in a personal injury case before you decide anything.

Being paid in cash or off the books does not, by itself, end your claim. Pay records make proving lost wages easier, but they are not the only proof. Coworkers who saw you on the job, text messages, photos from the site, and the pattern of your hours and pay can all establish that you worked there and what you earned. Being paid under a different name is common on job sites and does not erase the fact that you were injured doing the work.

If your employer never carried workers' compensation insurance, you are not out of options. New York has a fund that pays benefits to workers injured by uninsured employers, and the employer can face its own penalties for going without coverage. Separately, the Labor Law lawsuit against the general contractor and the property owner does not depend on your employer's insurance at all, so a missing policy on your boss's side does not close the door on the case that often matters most.

New York law protects injured workers who come forward. It is generally unlawful for an employer to fire, demote, or threaten you for filing a workers' compensation claim or an injury lawsuit, and using your immigration status to scare you into dropping a claim can itself cross the line into illegal retaliation and witness intimidation. None of this means an employer will never try. It means the law is on the side of the worker who files, and there are consequences for the employer who retaliates.

Because the Labor Law claim is brought against the contractor and the property owner rather than against you, and because your consultation is confidential from the first call, the report you are afraid of is not part of how the case actually works.

The steps are the same whatever your status, and a few of them protect both your health and your claim:

Karasik Law Group, P.C. has approximately 19 years of experience in personal injury law and represents injured construction workers across Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island, and New Jersey. The firm has represented immigrant workers throughout Brooklyn, and your case is confidential from the first call. Alexander Karasik, Esq. conducts the free consultations personally, is a member of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, and clients reach their attorney directly by phone, text, email, or in person rather than through a case manager. You can go through the whole case in Russian, Ukrainian, English, or Spanish, and he can meet you at home or in the hospital if getting around is hard right now.

The fee follows the case. Karasik Law Group, P.C. takes construction accident matters on contingency, advances the costs the case requires, and you pay nothing unless and until there is a recovery. The firm reports more than $17 million recovered for injured construction workers, and past results do not guarantee future outcomes. You can see how the fee and the costs actually work before you commit to anything.

If you were hurt on a Brooklyn job site and your status has been holding you back, reach the office for a free and confidential case review before the deadline closes in.

Generally no. Your immigration status is usually not part of a construction injury case, and judges often bar the other side from raising it. A lawyer can ask the court to keep it out.

Yes. You can go through your entire case in Russian, Ukrainian, English, or Spanish, so you describe how you were hurt and read your settlement in the language you speak at home.

Yes. The consultation is protected and confidential from the moment you call, and there is no charge and no obligation to talk about what happened.

Generally three years from the date of the injury for a Labor Law lawsuit, with shorter deadlines for notice in a workers' comp claim. Talking to an attorney early protects both the deadline and the evidence.

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