Section 18-201. Specifications of liability for employers and employees

1.
  As used in this section:
    (a)   "Person" means any individual, firm, company, partnership, joint
  venture, joint-stock association,  corporation,  association,  trust  or
  other legal entity.
    (b)    The words "employer", "employee", "employment", "compensation",
  "injury" and "death" shall have the same meaning as set forth in section
  two of the workers' compensation law.
    (c)   The terms "indemnity" and "contribution"  shall  not  include  a
  claim  or cause of action for contribution or indemnification based upon
  a provision in a written contract entered into prior to the accident  or
  occurrence by which the employer had expressly agreed to contribution to
  or  indemnification  of  the  claimant  or person asserting the cause of
  action for the type of loss suffered.
    2.  The liability of an employer and his or her employees set forth in
  sections ten, eleven and twenty-nine of the  workers'  compensation  law
  shall  be  exclusive  and in place of any other liability whatsoever, to
  employees, their personal representatives, spouses, parents, dependents,
  distributees or  any  person  otherwise  entitled  to  recover  damages,
  contribution  or  indemnity,  at  common law or otherwise, on account of
  injury or death or  liability  arising  therefrom,  except  that  if  an
  employer  fails  to  secure  the payment of compensation for its injured
  employees and their dependents as  provided  in  section  fifty  of  the
  workers'  compensation  law,  an  injured  employee, or his or her legal
  representative in case death results from the injury, may, at his or her
  option, elect to claim compensation under the workers' compensation law,
  or to maintain an action in the courts for damages against the  employer
  on  account  of  such  injury;  and  in  such  an action it shall not be
  necessary to plead or prove freedom from contributory negligence nor may
  the defendant plead as a defense that  the  injury  was  caused  by  the
  negligence of a fellow servant nor that the employee assumed the risk of
  his  or  her employment, nor that the injury was due to the contributory
  negligence of the employee.