Criminal Summons, Stop-Work Order Served on Orange County Tree Service

Owner of Northern Tree Service Cited for Not Having Workers’ Comp Insurance

ALBANY, NY (08/28/2007)(readMedia)-- New York State Workers’ Compensation Board Chair Donna Ferrara ordered the owner of an Orange County tree service to close his business for failing to comply with New York’s workers’ compensation laws.

The Board on Aug. 24 served Todd Pezzementi, owner of Northern Tree Service II Inc. of Washingtonville, with a Stop-Work Order and a misdemeanor criminal summons for not having workers’ compensation coverage for his business.

Workers’ compensation law requires businesses with employees to carry insurance to cover workers injured on the job. Reform legislation signed by Gov. Spitzer in March gives the Chair of the Workers’ Compensation Board the authority to shut down a business for failing to obtain insurance.

“New York will not tolerate business owners who disregard the law and leave their workers unprotected,” Ferrara said. “It’s not fair to the injured workers and it’s not fair to honest businesses that pay for this fraud in the form of higher premiums.”

Following an investigation by the Board’s Bureau of Compliance, a workers’ compensation law judge found that Northern Tree Service II Inc. had no workers’ compensation insurance when one of its employees was injured on the job in 2005. A law judge had previously determined that Northern Tree Service II’s predecessor company, Northern Tree Service Inc. was uninsured when a worker was injured on the job in 1999. Pezzementi, as president of both firms, is personally liable for $78,926 in uninsured claims and $32,500 in penalties.

When someone is injured on the job and the employer is not insured, all medical bills, including weekly wage payments, are paid by the Uninsured Employers’ Fund, which is funded by businesses that carry workers’ compensation insurance.

Pezzementi can apply to the Board to have the Stop-Work Order lifted once he agrees to restitution and obtains workers’ compensation insurance.

The Workers’ Compensation Board equitably and fairly administers the provisions of the New York State Workers’ Compensation Law on behalf of New York’s injured workers and their employers. To report workers’ compensation fraud, call 888-363-6001.