Most Staten Islanders do not work on Staten Island. They take the ferry to Manhattan, drive the Verrazzano into Brooklyn, or cross the bridges west for work that starts before the traffic does.
So when an injury happens, a reasonable question follows: if I was hurt in Midtown, or on a job in Queens, or somewhere my employer sent me, do I need a lawyer over there?
Almost always, no. Here is why.
If you were hurt anywhere in New York State, it is the same claim
Workers’ compensation in New York is a single statewide system. There is no Manhattan version of the law and no Staten Island version. The same statute applies, the same Workers’ Compensation Board decides it, the same forms start it, and the same deadlines govern it.
Whether you were injured on a construction site in the Bronx, in a hospital in Manhattan, in a warehouse in Queens or on a delivery route through Long Island, the claim runs the same way it would if the accident had happened four blocks from your house.
The only practical difference is administrative: your file is handled by one of the Board’s district offices rather than another. That determines some of the paperwork routing. It does not determine your rights, and it does not determine who can represent you.
Hearings are virtual, so where your attorney sits is irrelevant
This is the part that has genuinely changed, and a lot of injured workers are still operating on the old assumption.
The Board rolled out virtual hearings statewide in 2018. Its own guidance for claimants is explicit that there is no requirement to be anywhere near the office handling your case — you can take part from home, from work, or wherever is most convenient, on a computer or a phone.
One rule is worth knowing: a represented claimant who is testifying is expected to appear on video, with their face visible. That is not a reason to avoid representation; it simply means that if you are giving testimony, plan to be somewhere with a working camera and a decent connection rather than in a parked car between jobs.
What this means in practice is that the old trade-off has disappeared. You are no longer choosing between an attorney convenient to your home and one convenient to the Board district handling your file, because neither of you has to travel to it. A Staten Island firm can handle a Manhattan claim, a Bronx claim or a Buffalo claim without anybody standing in a queue at a Board office.
One more practical change: since September 18, 2026, the Board no longer calls from a single fixed number. When the judge calls you into a hearing, your caller ID may show “Cisco WebEx” or an out-of-state number. If you have a hearing that day, answer the phone.
You do not have to come to the office to hire us
A large share of our clients sign up without ever setting foot in the office. You do not need to sign anything to get started. With your authorization, we sign and file the initial paperwork on your behalf, including the C-3 claim form and the OC-400 notice of retainer that tells the Board and the insurance carrier we represent you.
That matters most for exactly the people this page is written for: someone hurt far from home, someone who cannot drive right now, or someone who works nights in Manhattan and sleeps days on Staten Island.
If your employer sent you out of state
The harder question is the one that arises when the work itself crossed a state line: a crew sent to a job in Pennsylvania, a driver whose route runs through three states, a technician covering a territory, a salesperson at a conference.
New York coverage does not simply stop at the state border. The Board’s own guidance is that a New York policy also covers employees with incidental travel and temporary work assignments outside New York State, and that employees whose work site is outside the state may still be entitled to New York benefits where the employer directs the work from a New York office or issues the paychecks from there.
Those two facts — who directs the work, and where you are paid from — do a lot of the work in these cases. They are also facts you already know, which makes this easier to sort out than people expect.
So being hurt outside New York does not automatically put you outside the New York system. It is worth asking rather than assuming your claim died at the state line.
How the Board decides whether an out-of-state injury is a New York claim
When the injury happens outside New York, the Board can hear the claim only if the job has enough connection to New York. The courts put the test this way: there must be “sufficient significant contacts” between the employment and New York to reasonably conclude that the job was, to some extent, based here.
The Board looks at the whole picture, including:
- where you live
- where you were hired
- where you actually work, and where your employer’s offices are
- whether you were expected to come back to New York after finishing the out-of-state job
- how much of the employer’s business is done in New York
No single factor decides it, and living in New York is not enough by itself. In a 2024 case, the Appellate Division upheld the Board’s finding that it had no jurisdiction over a New York resident’s claim, because the job itself had too little connection to New York.
In practice, a few patterns come up again and again on Staten Island:
- A New York employer sends you across the bridge for a job. You were hired here, you report here, and you were in New Jersey for a project you were always coming back from. That claim usually has strong New York contacts.
- A New Jersey employer, a New Jersey job, and you just happen to live here. That claim most likely belongs in New Jersey.
- The mixed cases. Hired by a New Jersey company for work in both states, dispatched from a yard in one and paid out of an office in the other. These are fact questions, and they are worth a conversation before anything is filed.
We go deeper on both sides of this in two posts: live in New York, hurt out of state, and live outside New York but have a New York claim.
When more than one state has a claim on your case
Sometimes more than one state genuinely does have jurisdiction. The state where the injury happened may, and so may New York, and the two systems can produce quite different outcomes on benefit rates, medical treatment, and how permanent injuries are valued.
Which factors matter varies, but they generally include where the employer is based and directs the work, where the employment contract was made, where you live, and where the injury occurred.
This is a decision worth taking advice on before a claim is filed rather than afterwards, because the choice is easier to make than to unmake.
We should be straightforward about our own position here. We handle New York workers’ compensation claims. If your case turns out to belong in New Jersey, Pennsylvania or another state, we will tell you that plainly rather than take a case we are not the right firm for — and that answer costs you nothing.
Live in New Jersey, hurt in New York
It also works in the other direction. Thousands of people commute from New Jersey to jobs in the five boroughs. If you live in New Jersey and were hurt on a job in New York, New York is usually where that claim belongs, and it is a claim we handle. Your home address does not stop you from bringing a New York claim, and because hearings are virtual you can attend them from home.
What does not change, wherever you were hurt
For a New York claim, the fundamentals are the same regardless of which borough or county you were standing in:
- Written notice to your employer within 30 days of the accident.
- A C-3 claim form filed with the Board, generally within two years.
- Medical treatment with a provider authorized by the Board, and the right to choose that provider yourself.
- The same benefit structure, the same permanency rules, and the same appeal routes if the claim is denied.
Our guide on what to do after a work injury covers the first steps in detail.
Your doctor can be near home or near work
You are not required to see a doctor near the accident site or a doctor your employer picks. Many people hurt in Manhattan or Brooklyn prefer a Board-authorized doctor close to where they live; others want one near the job so they can keep appointments around a work schedule. Either is fine.
There are exceptions, including employers enrolled in a Board-approved preferred provider organization and certain construction-industry programs. We cover those, and what to say when you are sent to a particular clinic, in Hurt at work? What you need to do.
Whichever doctor you see, tell them the injury happened at work, and where. A medical record that never mentions work is one of the most common reasons a carrier contests a claim.
One thing that is genuinely harder from a distance
Evidence gets harder to collect the further you are from where it happened, and that is a real difference rather than a marketing point.
If you were hurt on a site you had never been to before, working alongside people employed by three different companies, the names and numbers you did not write down that day are much harder to recover later. The same goes for which company actually controlled the site, which matters if there is a third-party claim alongside your compensation case.
If you are reading this soon after an accident somewhere unfamiliar, write down what you remember now: the exact address, the general contractor’s name on the fence or the permit board, who was working near you, and who you reported it to.
When the accident site matters for a second case
Workers’ compensation is a no-fault system. You do not have to prove anyone did anything wrong, and you generally cannot sue your own employer. But if someone other than your employer caused the accident, such as a general contractor, a property owner, or a driver who hit your work vehicle, there may also be a personal injury case, and that case does depend on where and how the accident happened.
The two run side by side, and they affect each other: the compensation carrier usually has a lien on any recovery in the injury case. We explain how the two get resolved together in global settlements. If you were hurt on a construction site, see our page on construction accidents as well.
What to do this week
- Report the injury to your employer in writing. Within 30 days, and sooner is better. A text or email to your supervisor that says where, when and how you were hurt is far better than a conversation nobody remembers.
- Write down where it happened. The exact address or job site, the name of the general contractor if it was a construction site, and anyone who saw it.
- See a Board-authorized doctor and tell them it happened at work. Near home or near work, whichever you will actually keep going to.
- If you were hurt outside New York, do not file anywhere yet. Call first, so the claim starts in the right state.
- Call us. We can sign you up without an office visit.
Frequently asked questions
I live on Staten Island but work in Manhattan. Do I need a Manhattan lawyer?
No. Workers’ compensation is a single statewide system and hearings are held virtually, so neither you nor your attorney needs to be near the Board office handling your file.
Do I have to travel to a Board office for my hearing?
Not unless you want to. Virtual hearings have been available statewide since 2018 and the Board’s guidance says claimants can take part from home, from work, or wherever is convenient. In-person attendance remains an option.
Do I need to appear on camera?
If you are represented and you are testifying, you are expected to appear by video with your face visible. If you are not testifying, you may be able to appear by phone.
My employer sent me to a job in another state and I got hurt there. Is that still a New York claim?
It may be. A New York policy generally covers incidental travel and temporary assignments out of state, and employees working outside New York may still be entitled to New York benefits where the employer directs the work from a New York office or pays them from there.
Could my claim belong in two states at once?
More than one state can have jurisdiction, and the benefits available under each can differ significantly. Which system to pursue is a decision worth getting advice on before filing.
Do you take New Jersey workers’ compensation cases?
We handle New York claims. If your case belongs in New Jersey or another state, we will say so rather than take a matter we are not the right firm for.
I was hurt on a site I’d never worked before. What should I do now?
Write down the exact address, the general contractor or site owner if you can identify them, the names of anyone working near you, and who you reported the injury to. That information is far easier to capture now than to reconstruct months later.
I live in New Jersey and got hurt at work in New York. Can I file in New York?
Usually, yes. A New Jersey resident hurt on a job in New York generally has a New York claim, and because hearings are virtual you can attend them from home.
Do I have to come to your office to hire you?
No. Many of our clients sign up remotely and never visit the office. With your authorization we sign and file the initial forms on your behalf, including the C-3 claim form and the OC-400 notice of retainer.
Can I see a doctor near my job instead of near home?
Yes, as long as the doctor is authorized by the Workers’ Compensation Board. In most claims you choose your own Board-authorized doctor, though there are exceptions, such as employers enrolled in a Board-approved preferred provider organization.
The judge’s call came from a number I didn’t recognize. Is that real?
It may be. Since September 18, 2026, the Board calls from rotating numbers, and your caller ID may show “Cisco WebEx” or an out-of-state number. If you have a hearing scheduled that day, answer the call.
Talk to a New York workers’ compensation attorney
If you live anywhere in the five boroughs and were hurt at work somewhere else, you do not need to find a firm near your job site. You need one that handles New York workers’ compensation properly and will stay with your claim.
The Law Offices of Frank J. Dito, Jr. represents injured workers in New York workers’ compensation claims. Call 718.701.2776 (toll-free: 800.310.5520) or contact us for a free consultation. Consultations are free. If we don’t recover money for you, we don’t get paid.
Related: New York workers’ compensation, construction accidents, and what to do when a claim is denied.
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