N.Y. GOB Law § 18-201

§ 18-201. Specifications of liability for employers and employees. 1.\nAs used in this section:\n (a) "Person" means any individual, firm, company, partnership, joint\nventure, joint-stock association, corporation, association, trust or\nother legal entity.\n (b) The words "employer", "employee", "employment", "compensation",\n"injury" and "death" shall have the same meaning as set forth in section\ntwo of the workers' compensation law.\n (c) The terms "indemnity" and "contribution" shall not include a\nclaim or cause of action for contribution or indemnification based upon\na provision in a written contract entered into prior to the accident or\noccurrence by which the employer had expressly agreed to contribution to\nor indemnification of the claimant or person asserting the cause of\naction for the type of loss suffered.\n 2. The liability of an employer and his or her employees set forth in\nsections ten, eleven and twenty-nine of the workers' compensation law\nshall be exclusive and in place of any other liability whatsoever, to\nemployees, their personal representatives, spouses, parents, dependents,\ndistributees or any person otherwise entitled to recover damages,\ncontribution or indemnity, at common law or otherwise, on account of\ninjury or death or liability arising therefrom, except that if an\nemployer fails to secure the payment of compensation for its injured\nemployees and their dependents as provided in section fifty of the\nworkers' compensation law, an injured employee, or his or her legal\nrepresentative in case death results from the injury, may, at his or her\noption, elect to claim compensation under the workers' compensation law,\nor to maintain an action in the courts for damages against the employer\non account of such injury; and in such an action it shall not be\nnecessary to plead or prove freedom from contributory negligence nor may\nthe defendant plead as a defense that the injury was caused by the\nnegligence of a fellow servant nor that the employee assumed the risk of\nhis or her employment, nor that the injury was due to the contributory\nnegligence of the employee.\n