PLAINTIFF WAS INJURED BY A HAZARD INHERENT IN THE JOB HE WAS HIRED TO DO; HIS LABOR LAW 200 CAUSE OF ACTION SHOULD HAVE BEEN DISMISSED (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendant’s motion for summary judgment on plaintiff’s Labor Law 200 cause of action should have been granted because plaintiff was injured in the normal course of the tasks he was hired to do. Plaintiff was removing debris when his shovel struck a subway track:

The plaintiff’s specific task was to shovel concrete debris, which had been chipped from the subway tunnel’s walls, into bags for removal. During the project, eight-by-four foot pieces of plywood had been placed atop the subway tracks covering its rails and the trough between the rails, onto which the debris would fall making it easier to shovel. The plaintiff allegedly was injured when his shovel struck a rail of a track that was not covered by plywood. …

… The duty to provide workers with a safe place to work does not extend to hazards that are part of, or inherent in, the very work the worker is performing or defects the worker is hired to repair … .

Here, the defendants established, prima facie, that the plaintiff’s job responsibilities required him to remove the debris from the subway tracks, and that his alleged injuries were caused in the normal course of his removal of the debris in that area  … . In support of their motion, the defendants submitted, among other things, the transcripts of the deposition testimony … demonstrated that[defendant] decided to and actually placed the plywood over the tracks for the purpose of making it easier to remove the debris rather than for a safety purpose. Pacheco v Judlau Contr., Inc., 2020 NY Slip Op 05216, Second Dept 9-30-20