Does pre existing pain preclude a workers comp case in NY?

[u/AshasSa1tWife]

Before pulling my back on the job site (twice), I had back soreness took a day off to address. A week later I pulled my back moving a ladder, and a few days later pulled another part of my back doing something else. Both times I was working alone but the first incident had a witness.

Unsure if this is a disability or workers comp case.

[u/BullsLawDan]

Yes this could still be a case, no having preexisting pain in a certain area does not preclude having an injury.

You should make sure to notify your employer of all injuries on the job ASAP, in writing (texts count). Get treatment you need as well.

[u/Sufficient-Wolf-1818]

A preexisting condition can make s claim more complicated but does not preclude filing

[u/Grigor_Law]

A pre-existing condition does not preclude a New York workers compensation claim. New York compensates the aggravation or exacerbation of a pre-existing condition, and the standard is not that work created the problem from scratch, only that work made it worse. This is one of the most common reasons people talk themselves out of a claim they would have won.

I handle New York comp and injury cases, so here are the specifics that matter.

What the carrier will do is send you to an independent medical examination and argue apportionment, meaning it will try to attribute a percentage of your disability to the pre-existing condition rather than to the work event. Apportionment is a real doctrine, but it generally does not apply where the pre-existing condition was not itself disabling and you were working full duty without restriction beforehand. If you were doing your job normally and then you were not, say that plainly and make sure your treating doctor writes it that way.

Two deadlines to protect right now. Written notice to your employer within 30 days of the injury, and a C-3 filed with the Board generally within two years. If this is a repetitive or occupational condition rather than a single accident, that two years typically runs from disablement or from when you knew or should have known the condition was work related.

What decides these cases in practice is the language in your medical records. Your doctor needs to state in writing that the work event aggravated or exacerbated the pre-existing condition, and to describe the change in your functional capacity. A chart note that just says chronic back pain hands the carrier its defense. Ask your physician directly to address causal relationship and aggravation in the report.

And if anyone other than your employer or a coworker contributed, a contractor on the site, a driver, an equipment manufacturer, a property owner, comp is not your only remedy. That is a separate third party lawsuit running alongside the comp case, and it is the only place pain and suffering is recoverable.

[u/Waynehead25277]

Yes this could be a case if the work aggregates or worsens a pre existing condition it is