Workers’ Comp Board Orders Two New York City Businesses to Close

Stop-Work Orders served on Queens bikini bar and Manhattan restaurant

ALBANY, NY (10/18/2007)(readMedia)-- New York State Workers’ Compensation Board Chair Donna Ferrara today ordered two businesses to close for failing to comply with New York’s workers’ compensation laws.

Board compliance officers served Stop-Work Orders on Mermaids Sports Bar at 31-06 31st Street in Astoria, and Itzocan Cafe Corp. at 438 East 9th Street in Manhattan for not carrying workers’ compensation insurance. In addition, Itzocan president Fermin Bello, and corporation secretary Anselmo Bello were served with criminal complaints – misdemeanors punishable by fines of between $500 and $2,500, one year in jail, or both.

Earlier this year, a Mermaids employee filed a workers’ compensation claim following a workplace injury. An Itzocan employee was injured on the job in 2006. Following an investigation by the Board’s Bureau of Compliance, a workers’ compensation law judge found that the businesses had no workers’ compensation insurance at the time of the injuries.

Workers’ compensation law requires businesses with employees to carry insurance to cover injured workers. Reform legislation signed by Gov. Spitzer in March gives the Chair of the Workers’ Compensation Board the authority to order a noncompliant business to close until it secures appropriate coverage.

A Workers’ Compensation Board law judge has ruled against the companies. Demetrios Avgerinopolous, president of Mermaids, owes the Board $49,288 in restitution and penalties. Fermin Bello, president of Itzocan, owes $68,041.

When someone is injured while working for an uninsured employer, all medical bills and weekly wage replacement payments are disbursed through the state Uninsured Employers Fund, which is now funded by penalties and assessments on uninsured employers.

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.

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