Nursing Home CEO Nabbed for Not Having WC

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced the arrest of the CEO of a Bronx nursing home who illegally failed to secure workers’ compensation insurance for hundreds of employees. The arrest is the first in New York State under a new workers’ comp law, which makes it a felony for employers to fail to have this insurance for their workers.

Helen Sieger, 55, president and CEO of the Kingsbridge Heights Care Center, was arrested for failing to have workers’ comp coverage for over one year, from May 31, 2007 to June 26, 2008. The Kingsbridge Heights Care Center employs over 400 hundred orderlies, healthcare providers, nutrition and clerical staff, and other workers. The nursing home serves over 300 residents.

This is the first arrest made under New York’s new workers’ comp law, which became effective on April 12, 2007. Under the new law, any employer of more than 5 people who fails to cover their employees through this insurance is committing a class “E” felony, punishable by up to four years in prison. Under the previous law, the crime was a misdemeanor.

When employees are injured on the job, but their employer does not have workers’ comp, the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board covers their claim by using funds collected from all employers with workers’ comp coverage. This then drives up the costs of the entire system. In the period during which Sieger’s business was not covered, six employees claimed injuries that went to the Workers’ Compensation Board.

On June 19, 2008, the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board issued a “stop work” order to take effect on June 30, 2008, due to Sieger’s failure to obtain workers’ comp insurance. The “stop work” order would have involved the immediate closing of the nursing home and emergency removal of the patients.

After being threatened with these actions, Sieger reportedly obtained workers’ comp coverage on June 27, 2008. Like other types of insurance, however, workers’ comp is not retroactive, and Sieger is accused of violating the law by neglecting to have this insurance.