Workers Compensation Board Locking Employers Bank Account

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tsena

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My jurisdiction is: New York

Hello,
My employer has his commercial bank account locked by The Workers Compensation Board of New York. She can't pay my salary in full amount, but manage to give some petty cash.
As a young entrepreneur, she made the mistake not to pay the Board the premiums since she didn't understand the purpose of the workers compensation. She thought it was a liability insurance. And since, we were only 2 employees at the beginning and one left to work on a 1099 for one of her customers, she didn't think the insurance was crucial to her business.
Unfortunately, there was a jugement and she had a fine of $35,000 that she coudn't pay. It is at its fourth month now and she says that it is at its final stage. The board asked her bank to pay a fine (approx. $6000) the bank paid but apparently now the bank is waiting for a waiver from the Commissioner in person to release the account. She has to write to the commissioner to get a hearing date and then listened to his summons.
I went to the Workers Compensation Board of New York's web site and there is nothing related to that kind of issue. She is a good employer, she made everything possible to give me the minimum amount to feed my family of three children but I need to get my money now and I am afraid that the board is so lost in current layoffs and economic issues that my employer is going to go bankrupt or just give up the bureaucratic hurdles.
How to get any information regarding the Workers Compensation Board procedures? And please, I beg you not to answer, "just get a lawyer". I have had this answer already and I don't want to sue her, that what the board was created for.
Thank you for your help.
 
TheInsider

Call the Advocate for Injured Workers, Ed Ruff, at the NYS Workers Comp Board and tell him what is happening. 1-800-580-6665.

While many of the people who work at the Board may be well meaning (I was there for 12 years), many of them never worked in the private sector and have no idea of that their ruling mean to small businesses. Plus every year they attempt to set new records for penalties which they have assessed, sometimes not understanding that this can mean for a small business.

On the other hand, anyone who starts a business had better check with an accountant as to the minimum types of insurance, tax forms, licenses etc they must have.
 
Dear TheInsider,

Your answer is deeply appreciated, I will try to call the Advocate. Indeed, this is purely a mistake from not being aware of the procedures in place and unfortunatelly the accountant didn't really give any tips regarding WCB's regulation -- when starting a company you try to lower expenses first. My employer finally discovered that WSB has an arm which takes care of the money -- The State Insurance Fund. They were the ones locking the account. Being the only remaining employee, my employer strongly suggested to find a new job. I tried to get hired by my 'wall street' bank customer but they said they are in a hiring freeze, than I tried the first vendor (my employer is the second vendor) they are in the same position as the customer. The accrued penalty is now at $87,500 and the per day penalty is $200 when the company's daily revenue is less than $500 a day. When my employer calls WCB's their first question is: Is the company closed?
Finally, two weeks ago, the account was unlocked by the State Insurance Fund but now it's being reviewed by the bank since it went to the legal departement. Bank of America is investigating if the account is not used for money laundering. In the mean time, my employer is still trying to get WCB to reduce he penalty and demonstrate that it will harm the company.

I might not save my job and it surely will go to India since my customer is just willing to offshore my job and looking at news like IBM sending US and Canadian laid off employees to India, it's not helping. I am desperate since I did have a job. Why is WCB not trying to understand that not all companies are like Bank Of America that can hire tof of the list accountants, super lobbyist for bailouts to buy out Merill Linch. And what can my employer do against a bank (the same Bank Of America) that locks accounts without jugement for reviewing it further more. Ijust hope they have the SEC involved.

My employer's fault was to mistakenly forget to pay $700 of premium insurance (me), Fortunatelly, I was not hurt on the job as an IT consultant but I might lose it now.

---
Reference: IBM Offers To Move Laid Off Workers To India
on informationweek dot com articleID=213000389
 
The State Insurance Fund (SIF) is NOT an arm of the Workers Comp Board. It is an insurance company managed by the State of New York which is the insurer of last resort: it insures firms who can not get WC insurance through the private sector so it has a lot of new and small businesses as clients.

SIF can not close a bank account unless there are past due premiums; if there was no insurance policy in effect, SIF has no financial interest at stake. So if your employer had no business, it is likely that the WCB had the account closed and the monies locked up as part of an attempt to collect past due monies, in this case fines and penalties.

As for telling the WCB that this is a small business, most of them do not care. What they care about is the amount of assessment made against firms whether or not they even collect any money. And being able to state for the media, "We closed X number of businesses last year for non-compliance" looks good, regardless of the merits of the losing.

Again, Ed Ruff is best suited to handle this type of thing although there is someone new at the board who will handle complaints from businesses. Ruff's office can direct your employer to that person.
 
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