Content reviewed by:
Alex Shulman
Our New Rochelle home health aide injury lawyers can help you protect your right to workers’ compensation benefits after an injury suffered while caring for patients.
At Shulman & Hill, we represent injured workers throughout New York and have handled workplace injury claims since our founding in 2013, building more than 200 years of combined experience in workers’ compensation litigation and related injury claims.
If you were injured while working as a home health aide, contact our New Rochelle workers’ compensation lawyers for a FREE case review.
Why Hire a New Rochelle Home Health Aide Injury Lawyer
Home health aide claims often involve facts that are not as straightforward as injuries occurring at a warehouse, construction site, or office. Your injury may have happened in a patient’s home, while traveling between clients, or while performing physical care tasks without assistance or proper equipment.
Those circumstances can affect how the insurance carrier evaluates causation, whether an employer disputes the scope of your job duties, and how your wages are calculated if you work variable shifts or multiple assignments.
Our New Rochelle personal injury lawyers review not only the injury itself, but the full work arrangement, because many disputes in home care claims begin with how the job was structured before the injury happened.
Common Home Health Aide Injuries and Risks
Home health aides regularly perform physical tasks that place significant strain on the back, shoulders, knees, and hands. Repeated patient transfers, lifting assistance, and mobility support often create cumulative injuries that develop over time rather than through a single event.
Needlestick injuries, cuts, and infection exposure are also common, particularly where aides assist with medication, wound care, or disposal of medical materials. In-home working conditions create additional risks that employers do not always control directly.
Common home health aide injuries include:
- Lower back injuries from lifting or transferring patients.
- Shoulder tears or repetitive stress injuries.
- Knee injuries from bending and mobility support.
- Slip and fall injuries inside patient homes.
- Needlestick and blood exposure incidents.
- Illness exposure, including respiratory infections.
Some claims involve a single traumatic event, while others develop gradually through repeated physical demands.
How Our New Rochelle Home Health Aide Injury Attorneys Build Your Claim
Strong home health aide claims are built on consistent medical evidence, accurate wage records, and clear documentation of how the injury happened.
We gather treatment records, diagnostic findings, and opinions from your doctors to support the injury and its effect on your ability to work. Where wage disputes exist, we collect payroll records, schedules, and concurrent employment records to support proper benefit calculations.
If the insurance carrier disputes treatment, disability level, or causation, we prepare the claim for hearing and present the evidence needed to support your position.
New York Workers’ Compensation Benefits for Injured Home Aides
If your injury arose out of your employment duties, New York workers’ compensation law generally provides medical treatment and disability benefits regardless of fault. These benefits can apply even if the injury happened inside a patient’s private residence rather than at an employer-owned facility.
Workers’ compensation benefits may cover doctor visits, imaging, therapy, medication, surgery, and reimbursement for travel related to medical care. If you lose time from work or return on reduced hours, wage benefits may also apply.
Some injuries may qualify for permanent awards depending on the medical findings and how much function has been lost.
What to Do After a Home Health Aide Injury
Your first step is to get medical care and make sure the provider records the work-related cause. Prompt medical documentation helps connect your injury to your job duties. If you are exposed to blood or a needle stick, ask for immediate testing and follow-up.
Tell your employer about the injury as soon as possible and in writing if you can. Keep copies of incident reports, texts, and emails confirming your notice. Save pay stubs, schedules, and any communication about light duty or missed shifts.
Take these steps:
- Report the injury to your supervisor.
- Complete any internal incident documentation.
- Seek treatment through an authorized provider.
- Preserve communication about your schedule or missed work.
- Photograph hazardous conditions when possible.
- Keep records of mileage and out-of-pocket costs.
Deadlines and Forms in New York Workers’ Compensation Cases
In most cases, you must notify your employer within 30 days of the injury. For repetitive injuries or occupational illnesses, the timeline may begin when you knew, or reasonably should have known, that the condition was related to your work.
You generally must file your employee claim (Form C-3) with the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board within two years of the injury or disablement. Your medical providers must also submit supporting treatment records.
If wage benefits or treatment approvals are delayed, our New Rochelle home health aid injury attorneys can request a hearing and address those disputes directly.
Third-Party Claims for Home Aides
Workers’ compensation benefits are important, but they do not cover everything. If someone outside your employment relationship contributed to the injury, a separate legal claim may exist.
For example, if you were injured in a car accident while driving between clients, or if unsafe property conditions caused your fall, those facts may support a personal injury claim against the responsible party.
These claims can provide compensation beyond workers’ compensation benefits, including pain and suffering and full financial damages. Because the workers’ compensation carrier may assert a lien against part of that recovery, both claims must be handled carefully.
Serving New Rochelle and Westchester Home Care Workers
We represent home health aides throughout New Rochelle and nearby Westchester communities, including aides working in private homes, apartment buildings, and assisted living environments.
Home care work presents legal issues that are different from many other workplace claims because the workplace itself changes from patient to patient. If you were injured while caring for someone else and now have questions about your wages, treatment, or ability to keep working, we are prepared to review your claim and explain what protections New York law provides.
Contact Shulman & Hill to schedule a FREE consultation and discuss your next steps with a home health aid injury attorney in New Rochelle.