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NY workers hurt by coworkers’ horseplay can get workers’ comp benefits

Posted on Feb 27, 2011

Horsing around at work in New York is never a good idea, especially as you could hurt yourself or somebody else. If you get hurt at work while misbehaving, your employer may try to deny you workers’ compensation benefits – even if you think you deserve them. Your employer may say that your conduct was out of place and not part of your job.

That can be a tricky situation. However, what if you are caught up in your coworkers’ horseplay through no fault of your own? Sometimes accidents happen to innocent bystanders who did nothing to instigate or perpetuate the bad behavior. In this case, your employer may also try to deny you workers’ comp benefits – but they don’t have much to support their argument.

If you are hurt because somebody else started playing around at work, and other people joined in but you did not, you should be able to collect workers’ compensation benefits. In New York, you should be able to receive workers’ comp benefits after an incident of horseplay if:

You did not participate at all, and
You did not retaliate against those engaging in horseplay or larking.

If your employer or their insurance company tries to deny your New York workers’ compensation insurance benefits, make sure you talk to an attorney before you give up. You may be able to get those benefits after all.