New York Consolidated Laws, Employers' Liability Law - EML § 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.