Reform boosts workers' comp

State board sees more compliance from use of stop-work orders By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau
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First published: Thursday, March 6, 2008

ALBANY -- Comedian and Minnesota Senate candidate Al Franken isn't the only one to feel the sting of a crackdown by the New York Workers' Compensation Board.

So have Paul's Cleaners in Albany and the Ocean Blue Fish Fry in Clifton Park.

While Franken faces a legal judgment to pay about $25,000 in fines for failing to carry workers' compensation insurance for a business he had in New York City, state authorities since last summer have also moved to temporarily shut down businesses like Paul's and Ocean Blue for the same reason.

Both received stop-work orders from the Workers' Compensation Board, which can shutter businesses that lack coverage.

A person who answered the phone at Paul's declined to comment. A woman at Ocean Blue said only the owner could comment, but that the owner was in the hospital. Both reopened after a day, when they agreed to acquire insurance and pay associated fines, said board spokesman Brian Keegan.

The ability to issue stop-work orders stemmed from last year's reform of New York's workers' compensation laws, Keegan noted.

"We want compliance," he said. "We want people to carry coverage."

Judgments, such as that against Alan Franken Inc., have been the usual way of going after nonpayers. Last year, 17,884 such judgments were issued, Keegan said.

By contrast, 63 stop-work orders have been issued since last summer. Most lasted just a day or two, after which the owners typically obtained coverage.

The Franken fine was actually levied in August 2006 for failure to carry the insurance from June 2002 to March 2005.

Keegan said Franken was sent multiple notices, but Franken's spokesman, Andy Barr, said the comedian/politician was unaware of the fine until Tuesday, after it was publicized by Minnesota Democrats Exposed, a Web site sympathetic to Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, whom Franken is seeking to unseat in November.

"If there's a mistake by the Frankens, it was an inadvertent mistake as opposed to trying to evade the law," Barr said. Franken set up the corporation to receive payments for speeches, TV and movie royalty checks, and other income, he said. It had, at most, one or two part- or full-time employees at any one time, Barr said.

Other Capital Region businesses that received the orders were the Corner Well Pub in Albany and LF&G of Latham Inc.

Rick Karlin can be reached at 454-5758 or by e-mail at rkarlin@timesunion.com. The Associated Press contributed to this story