Attempt to Limit the Scaffold Law Stalls in Committee

Failure to Advance Bill Is Good News for Construction Workers, but Bill Remains Alive for 2026

New York’s 2025 legislative session came and went, convening January 8 and closing on June 17. In that space of time and over about 65 days in session, legislators introduced a whopping 16,794 bills and managed to pass more than 800 of them and send them to the Governor’s desk. One bill, which fortunately never made it that far, was S3418. This proposed piece of legislation would have substantially curtailed the application of New York’s Scaffold Law, a key protection for construction workers designed to promote safety as well as accountability if they are injured on the job.

Workers can rejoice that their rights to hold owners and contractors accountable for construction injuries weren’t restricted, but the story isn’t over yet. The bill, which languished in committee for the entire session, is still technically alive and will be carried over into the next legislative session, when the Assembly and Senate reconvene next January. Learn more about S3418 below. If you or a loved one has been hurt on a construction project in Orange County or the mid-Hudson Valley, contact Dupée & Monroe, P.C., to speak with a skilled and experienced Goshen construction accident lawyer.

Background – What Is the Scaffold Law?

New York Labor Law section 240(1) holds property owners and general contractors absolutely liable for elevation or gravity-related accidents if they did not provide necessary safety devices, such as ladders, hoists, or scaffolds. The law is intentionally broad and covers a wide range of activities, including the erection, demolition, repairing, altering, painting, cleaning, or pointing of a building or structure. In any of these activities, the owner or contractor shall

“furnish or erect, or cause to be furnished or erected for the performance of such labor,  scaffolding, hoists, stays, ladders, slings, hangers, blocks, pulleys, braces, irons, ropes, and other devices which shall be so constructed, placed and operated as to give proper protection to a person so employed.”

Failure to provide such protective devices imposes strict liability on the owner or contractor for any injury that occurs because of that failure. This includes any “gravity-related” accident, such as a fall, scaffold collapse, or being struck by a falling or rolling object. By imposing strict or absolute liability, injured workers can bring a claim without having to prove negligence on the part of the owner or contractor. Importantly, defendants cannot use the employee’s own negligence against them either. The worker’s negligence plays no role in a Scaffold Law claim; it cannot be used to avoid liability or lessen responsibility under the state’s comparative negligence rules, which allow for shared or proportionate fault in other personal injury situations, such as car accidents or premises liability (slip and fall) claims.

What Would S3418 Do?

The Scaffold Law already provides some exceptions. Section 240(1) applies to “[a]ll contractors and owners and their agents, except owners of one and two-family dwellings who contract for but do not direct or control the work…” (emphasis added). This is a fairly limited exception intended to protect residential homeowners from being held liable under the law. S3418, and its lower-house companion Assembly Bill 7437, would carve out a much larger exception, exempting from liability “contractors building new one-family residential construction.”

S3418 would also apply the same exception for builders of new one-family residential construction to Labor Law Section 241. This companion to section 240 requires property owners and contractors to ensure that the work environment is “reasonable and adequate” for the safety of workers and others. While it does not set specific rules, 241(6)  mandates compliance with the New York Codes for Construction Worker Safety, known as Rule 23, to protect against injuries from unsafe conditions, though comparative negligence can affect liability. Injured workers who can point to a violation of the NYCCR can hold owners and contractors liable for the harm caused by their injury, including medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, and more. Section 241(6) currently contains the same limited exception for owners of one and two-family dwellings who contract for but do not direct or control the work.

The stated purpose of this legislation is to “reduce the financial burdens placed on residential builders” and “facilitate less costly new home construction in New York State.” Opponents of the Scaffold Law routinely claim it increases the costs of construction. Supporters of the Scaffold Law, in turn, dispute whether such is truly the case. In any event, they argue, what price should be put on worker safety in the name of lowering housing costs? We would all like cheaper home prices, but should it come at the expense of worker safety?

Should Workers Be Worried?

While it is concerning that some legislators would like nothing more than to roll back protections for workers in the name of lowering construction costs, it seems safe to assume that the 140-year-old Scaffold Law is here to stay. Versions of S3418 and A 7437 have been introduced in every legislative session since at least 2009 and have never advanced farther than the current bills. These bills have been introduced, read once, and referred to their respective Labor committees, and have never progressed further. Passing out of committee is only the first step in a long legislative process, and even if a bill is passed by the legislature, it must still be signed by the governor to become a law in most instances.

Passing out of its assigned committee is a crucial step, since legislators typically follow the lead of the committee. However, with a law as important and distinguished as the Scaffold Law, changing the law by significantly weakening it would likely encounter significant opposition from unions, workers, and other groups.

Contact Dupée & Monroe for Help After a Construction Accident in Orange County or the Hudson Valley

The Scaffold Law is perennially controversial, and legislation like S3418 should be closely watched in case a movement to weaken it (and eventually eliminate it) should gain momentum. In the meantime, New York Labor Laws like 240(1) and 241(6) continue to provide strong protections for construction workers in the Empire State. If you or a loved one has been hurt in a construction accident in Orange County or the mid-Hudson Valley, contact Dupée & Monroe, P.C., in Goshen for a free consultation to discuss your needs and find out how we can help.