N.Y. Employers' Liability Law § 8: Consent by employer and employee to compensation plan

§ 8. Consent by employer and employee to compensation plan. When and

if any employer in this state and any of his employees shall consent to

the compensation plan described in sections nine to fifteen, inclusive,

of this article, hereinafter referred to as the plan, and shall signify

their consent thereto in writing, signed by each of them or their

authorized agents, and acknowledged in the manner prescribed by law for

taking the acknowledgment of a conveyance of real property, and such

writing is filed with the county clerk of the county in which it is

signed by the employee, then so long as such consent has not expired or

been canceled as hereinafter provided, such employee, or in case injury

to him results in death, his executor or administrator, shall have no

other right of action against the employer for personal injury or death

of any kind, under any statute or at common law, save under the plan so

consented to, except where personal injury to the employee is caused in

whole or in part by the failure of the employer to obey a valid order

made by the industrial commission or other public authority authorized

to require the employer to safeguard his employees, or where such injury

is caused by the serious or willful misconduct of the employer. In such

excepted cases thus described, no right of action which the employee has

at common law or by any other statute shall be affected or lost by his

consent to the plan, if such employee, or in case of death his executor

or administrator, commences such action before accepting any benefit

under such plan or giving any notice of injury as provided in section

nine hereof. The commencing of any legal action whatsoever at common law

or by any statute against the employer on account of such injury, except

under the plan, shall bar the employee, and in the event of his death

his executors, administrators, dependents and other beneficiaries, from

all benefit under the plan. This section and sections nine to fifteen,

inclusive, of this article shall not apply to a railroad corporation,

foreign or domestic, doing business in this state, or a receiver

thereof, or to any person employed by such corporation or receiver.