A Watertown, Massachusetts roofing company and its owners have been arraigned on charges they allegedly failed to disclose millions of dollars in misclassified subcontractor payroll and failed to pay the prevailing wage, Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office announced.
Shaun Bryan and Antoinette Capurso-Bryan, of Newton, and their company, Newton Contracting Company, Inc., of Watertown, were arraigned on the following charges:(WCxKit)
Shaun Bryan, 47, of Newton
Workers Compensation Premium Evasion (4 counts)
Unemployment Contribution Evasion (12 counts)
Misclassification of Employees as Independent Contractors (4 counts)
Failure to Pay the Prevailing Wage
Newton Contracting Company Inc., of Watertown
Workers Compensation Premium Evasion (4 counts)
Unemployment Contribution Evasion (12 counts)
Misclassification of Employees as Independent Contractors (4 counts)
Failure to Pay the Prevailing Wage
Antoinette Capurso-Bryan, 47, of Newton
Misclassification of Employees as Independent Contractors (4 counts)
Failure to Pay the Prevailing Wage
Authorities began an investigation into the Bryans and their company in late 2008, after the JTF received complaints that Newton Contracting was misclassifying part of its workforce. The Attorney General’s Office also received a complaint that Newton Contracting had misclassified its roofing employees as laborers at the Suffolk County Jail Project and consequently failed to pay their employees the prevailing wage rate.
The EOLWD’s Division of Unemployment Assistance (EOLWD\DUA) conducted a compliance audit of Newton Contracting’s payroll records in early 2009. The EOLWD\DUA determined that Newton Contracting misclassified multiple employees as independent contractors and consequently failed to disclose to the EOLWD\DUA more than $2.4 million in misclassified subcontractor payroll for each quarter during 2006 through 2008. The EOLWD\DUA assessed more than $52,000 in additional unemployment contributions, including interest, against Newton Contracting.
During this time the IFB began an investigation of four of Newton Contracting’s worker’s compensation policies covering July 1, 2005, through July 1, 2009. The IFB discovered that the company allegedly misclassified half of its workforce as subcontractors. The IFB’s investigation further revealed that during its annual workers comp audits, Shaun Bryan allegedly failed to disclose to the auditor more than $3.4 million of Newton Contracting’s misclassified subcontractor payroll over the course of four policy periods.
The AG’s Fair Labor Division received a complaint that in 2009 Newton Contracting’s employees performing roofing work at the Suffolk County Jail Project were misclassified as laborers. The prevailing wage rate for roofing work was $53.86. Newton Contracting paid the workers $44.10 hour. In 2010, Newton Contracting paid two employees more than $5,000 in restitution for the misclassification and consequent failure to pay the prevailing wage violation.
A Suffolk County Grand Jury returned indictments against all three defendants on Dec. 19. The defendants were arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court where each pleaded not guilty and were released on personal recognizance.(WCxKit)
The defendants were to be in court Jan. 6, 2012 for further proceedings.
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker or agent about workers comp issues.
©2012 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact us at: Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.
Alberta labour groups are calling on the province to do more to prevent a growing number of workplace fatalities, according to a report from The Canadian Press.
The call for action comes shortly after an Edmonton worker was killed by a steel beam that collapsed at an Edmonton jobsite. (WCxKit)
The employee's death marks Alberta's 14th workplace fatality this year, which is four more than in all of 2010.
Construction worker Ali Fattah says nobody seems to be taking the situation seriously so it is becoming more dangerous.
He says a lot of the accidents are preventable.
Barrie Harrison, with the Occupational Health and Safety board, is among those at the provincial level working to prevent what he admits are too many injuries and fatalities in an inherently dangerous construction sector.
Harrison cites worker and employer safety education as a crucial part of the provincial safety strategy. He also points to the hiring of new OHS inspectors and targeted job site inspections that are intended to make jobsites safer.
While the Alberta Federation of Labour agrees education is part of the solution, it feels what the province is doing isn't enough.
The labour group's Gil McGowan says in Alberta the new inspectors only replace the inspectors who were laid-off during the Klein years, and employers receive advanced warnings about the targeted inspections, which defeats their purpose.
He believes those factors contribute to the province lagging behind all others when it comes to safety.
McGowan also blames the high workplace fatality numbers on the province ignoring warnings, and not taking advantage of a lull in development to adequately prepare for safety issues related to our province's returning growth. (WCxKit)
McGowan noted further tragedies could be averted if the government puts what he believes is just talk into action specifically more unannounced inspections, and a more aggressive approach to prosecuting employers who put their workers at risk.
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. He is co-author of the #1 selling book on cost containment, Manage Your Workers Compensation: Reduce Costs 20-50% www.WCManual.com. See www.LowerWC.com for more information. Contact: Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker or agent about workers comp issues.
©2011 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact
For workers who spend the days behind the wheel, it would make sense to assume that the thin strip of nylon or polyester that keeps them pinned to their seats in case of a collision is there to keep them safe from harm.
But a Saskatoon Court of Queen's Bench judge recently ruled that buckling up may actually be more dangerous for bus drivers, according to a report from the Canadian OH&S News. In an Oct. 20 decision, Justice Grant Currie overturned Saskatoon bus driver Dean Christianson's traffic court conviction for failing to wear his seatbelt. (WCxKit)
"
His experiences, and those of others that had come to his attention in the course of working in his industry, gave him reason to believe that his safety may be compromised by wearing a seatbelt," Justice Currie wrote. Christianson believed that if passengers on the bus assaulted him, being buckled in would make him less able to defend himself.
In his initial traffic safety court trial, Christianson called violence against transit operators a "growing, nationwide epidemic," noting that he been threatened by three people riding on the bus at the time he was pulled over.
"
As someone who has been spit on, I discovered that you do not know who is going to grab your steering wheel while you're driving or sucker punch you, or stab you, or spit on you. You have no idea who it's coming from," he said. "Some of the drivers have been sucker punched while they are driving and took repetitive blows while trying to get their seatbelt off so they can defend themselves."
Under Saskatchewan's Traffic Safety Act, a bus driver is not required to wear a seatbelt if they have reason to feel it may put them at risk of injury.
The Crown had argued that the exemption only applied when there was a specific risk of injury, but Justice Currie ruled that the regulation could also be applied to a driver who "may be continuously exposed to a compromise of his or her safety on a random basis." (WCxKit)
A Saskatoon civic policy states that all public employees must be buckled in whenever they're behind the wheel of a city vehicle, but the transit union is hoping this ruling will help change that policy, first introduced three years ago.
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. See www.LowerWC.com for more information. Contact: Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker or agent about workers comp issues.
©2011 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact
More than 300 local government delegates from across B.C. met in Vancouver recently to share strategies and reaffirm their commitment to protecting workers from occupational injury, disease, and death, according to a report from WorkSafeBC.
The 2011 BC Municipal Occupational Health and Safety Conference provided a forum for governments, municipalities, school boards, and other public sector agencies to exchange success stories about improving health and safety in the workplace through a series of presentations, workshops, and panel discussions. The BC Municipal Safety Association (BCMSA), CUPE BC, and WorkSafeBC sponsored the conference. (WCxKit)
These discussions affect a significant portion of Vancouver’s working public. Approximately 513 employers, responsible for the occupational health and safety of more than 39,800 workers, are registered with WorkSafeBC’s local government sector. Between 2006 and 2010, this sector experienced a 20 percent decrease in workplace injuries. Yet, despite the encouraging news, WorkSafeBC accepted more than 9,100 injury claims — 2,200 of which were labeled serious injuries — during the same time period.
“Public sector workers are exposed to a wide variety of hazards,” says Cathy Cook, conference chairperson and executive director of the BCMSA. “We have put together these sessions to help employers, supervisors, and workers be aware of the hazards and provide them with some real-life solutions to improve their safety.”
The BC Municipal Safety Association is a non-profit society that provides a common focal point for occupational health and safety concerns in the municipal environment. Its purpose is to identify and address these concerns, and to create learning opportunities for its members. All employers in the local government and related operations classification unit are members of the BCMSA. (WCxKit)
“BCMSA’s increased safety training throughout the province, their enhanced Web site, e-newsletter, and overall engagement in the municipal sector on safety matters is making a difference,” says Ed Dowling, general industries manager for WorkSafeBC’s Industry and Labour Services. “The feedback from past conferences is outstanding. Employers, supervisors, and employee representatives are returning to their worksites as safety champions. We see a compounding effect — demonstrated by a 20 percent decrease in injuries since 2006.”
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. She is the author of the #1 selling book on cost containment, Manage Your Workers Compensation: Reduce Costs 20-50%. Contact: Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker or agent about workers comp issues.
©2011 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact
The Workers Compensation Board of Nova Scotia (WCB) is accepting the recommendations of a privacy review report recently unveiled by the Privacy Review Office (PRO). To see the report, visit: http://foipop.ns.ca/rep_recent.html .
According to a report from the agency, the WCB will implement some of the recommendations immediately, and others, it will accept in principle with the process of implementation to happen over time. (WCxKit)
“We have a strong privacy policy in place and we continue to evolve our approach and make improvements to protect the information of those we serve,” said Leo McKenna, CFO, and VP of Corporate Services. “The privacy review has been a valuable learning process for the WCB and we’ve gained some fresh perspective and helpful feedback.”
The WCB handles more than one million claim-related documents and payment transactions every year, most containing personally identifying information. All WCB employees are required to complete annual privacy training with a focus on containing breaches, remedying and learning from them in order to prevent further breaches. (WCxKit)
“Privacy breaches, much like workplace injuries, can be prevented and our employees achieve this in the vast majority of our transactions,” said McKenna. “However, just as we believe one workplace injury is too many, we also believe one privacy breach is too many, and we will continue to strive towards achieving this goal.”
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. See www.LowerWC.com for more information. Contact: Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker or agent about workers comp issues.
©2011 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@WorkersCompKit.com
Many employers in Manitoba use the services of employer representatives to help them manage their interactions with the Workers Compensation Bureau. Given that fact, the WCB requires current authorization on an employer’s file before information about that employer can be shared with these individuals.
According to information from Manitoba’s WCB, employer representatives may include employer consultants, accountants, bookkeepers, payroll services, lawyers and/or other service providers not employed by the employer. (WCxKit)
Authorizations are valid for a duration specified by the employer for up to two years. If you use the services of an individual or firm and you would like them to have access to your employer file information, you must have an up-to-date authorization on file with WCB Assessment Services.
If you wish to confirm who is authorized to access information on your account, call WCB Assessment Accounts at (204) 954-4505 or toll free in Canada at 1-800-362-3340.
Written authorization can be submitted to WCB Assessment Services, 210-363 Broadway, Winnipeg, MB, R3C 3W4 or by fax to (204) 954-4900 or toll free in Canada at 1-866-245-0796.
Employers should ensure the authorization letter is produced on your company letterhead and contains the following information. (WCxKit)
1. WCB Account Number and correct legal name of the firm;
2. Name, position and signature of person authorizing access (must be an authorized representative of the firm);
3. Individual consultant (or their company) name and address;
4. Indicate if there are any limitations to the access (information you do not want them to have access to);
5. Current date.
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. See www.LowerWC.com for more information. Contact: Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker or agent about workers comp issues.
©2011 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.
Many paramedics in New Brunswick Canada saw their work schedules dramatically altered recently as the province moved away from 24-hour shifts, citing safety reasons.
According to a report from Canadian OH&S News, Ambulance New Brunswick ANB, the company the province has contracted to manage and oversee all emergency medical services operations since 2007, changed over all but three of the province's 70 EMS stations to a 12-hour shift schedule in August. The changeover was first announced in December 2010. (WCxKit)
There were 30 stations operating on the 24-hour schedule, which was introduced to deal with staffing issues and never meant to be permanent, says Alan Stephen, president and CEO of ANB. Getting rid of the long shifts was a safety decision, he says.
"The evidence would show us that long shifts, 24-hour shifts, are not great for the safety of our paramedics, our patients and for public safety, for reasons of fatigue, lack of sufficient rest periods, sleep disturbances, medical errors, vehicular errors," he says, citing studies from other jurisdictions.
Ralph McBride, the Canadian Union of Public Employees CUPE national representative for Local 4848, the New Brunswick paramedics union, disagrees with the claimed safety benefits and says there haven't been any accidents or patient care issues in the province since the 24-hour shifts were introduced. He says the studies the union did with the province showed that a 12-hour shift is no safer than a 24-hour shift because there is enough downtime when workers handle 9-1-1 calls or rest in the station's bedrooms during the latter shift.
"ANB told us that, time on task, some stations were 38 minutes in a 24-hour day, other stations ran up as high as seven-and-a-half hours," McBride says. "What happens to the other hours for time on task? They're always in the station somewhere with the ability to put their feet up and relax," he contends.
"It's not like they're working a 24-hour shift in an urban center, like a city. Our 24-hour stations are more in remote parts, where call volumes are low."
Some members are upset with the decision to move to a 12-hour schedule because it causes hardships to ambulance personnel, McBride argues, citing the difficulty of finding daycare for single parents and the dramatic increase on travel time that workers who live far from their station have to deal with.
"I have members that would work in a 24-hour station because that's the closest they could get to their home area. They were traveling two hours to work and then two hours home, and now they're going to end up traveling four days. It was just a better fit," he says.
Local 4848, which represents approximately 900 EMS workers, is waiting on an adjudication hearing to challenge the decision and is lobbying the government to look at the employer's right to make the changes, McBride remarked. (WCxKit)
The three stations staying on the 24-hour schedule are on the islands in lower New Brunswick, and are staying on the extended schedule because the number of emergency calls on the islands is much lower and paramedics working there don't have to transfer patients to other facilities, Stephen adds.
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. See www.LowerWC.com for more information. Contact: Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker or agent about workers comp issues.
©2011 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.
An Alberta community has dedicated their rebuilt hockey rink to a young worker who was killed on the job, according to a report from the Canadian OH&S News.
The Josh Malysh Rink of Dreams, just outside Devon, Alberta, about 40 kilometers southwest of Edmonton, was officially opened last month. Josh's father, Charles Malysh, said about 500 people came out for the opening. (WCxKit)
"The old one was falling apart. My son had spent a lot of time there playing shinny with his friends, and when we approached the idea to do a park or something as a memorial, [his friends and family] wanted to do something where Josh spent a lot of time, which was at that rink," said Malysh.
The new rink was built by a crew of mostly friends and family using donated materials, according to Malysh, after the old outdoor rink was demolished about a month ago.
Josh Malysh's friends filled the concrete pad that the ice will sit on with mementos of his life. His goalie sticks were buried in the concrete under the nets, his old jersey under centre ice and his trophies were placed in a container and buried as well.
Josh Malysh was working with Sureway Construction in southwest Edmonton, installing water and sewer lines in a new subdivision. As the crew was lowering a concrete sewer pipe into the trench he was working in, it swung around unexpectedly, pinning the 21-year-old worker against the wall of the trench and fatally crushing him, said Barrie Harrison, a spokesman for Alberta Employment and Immigration.
A stop work order was issued after the incident, but OH&S charges have not been laid, Harrison said.
Charles Malysh also works for Sureway, as a project manager. He wasn't on site at the time of the accident, but says he was there when his son was pulled out of the trench. (WCxKit)
"What they think is you are safe at home, you're safe at work, the place where an accident is going to happen is going to and from. In this case it was an accident at work and I'm trying to show them accidents happen all over the place," said Malysh. "You have to be safe all the time."
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. See www.LowerWC.com for more information. Contact: Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker or agent about workers comp issues.
©2011 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact
A prominent Canadian medical journal is calling for established minimum best practice standards to deal with sleep deprivation for doctors.
In an editorial published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal recently, the doctors Noni MacDonald, Paul Hebert, Ken Flegel, and Matthew Stanbrook suggest that there needs to be a change in physicians' professional culture, according to the Canadian OH&S News. (WCxKit)
"Long periods on call should not be accepted as routine or a source of pride. Instead, we must admit that working while impaired from sleep deprivation is neither normal nor acceptable," the doctors stated. The editorial points out that sleep deprivation, defined as less than six hours of uninterrupted sleep, from "overnight call" has been shown to cause a likewise degree of impairment in judgment and motor performance as a blood-alcohol level higher than 0.05 percent.
"Those of us who remain overconfident that we can continue to perform our duties properly without adequate sleep should imagine the reaction if we were made to seek informed consent from each of our patients to accept treatment under these conditions," the doctors continued
According to the doctors, some hospitals, departments, and group practices have implemented innovative approaches to work scheduling, such as strict policies for going home after call, refraining from booking procedures or clinics the day following call, reorganizing call schedules to allow for more physician coverage, or moving to shift work.
"Ultimately, licensing, accreditation, insurance and government institutions need to establish minimum best-practice standards for maximum work and minimum uninterrupted sleep hours," the editorial points out. (WCxKit)
The editorial goes on to say that prolonged work hours are not limited to doctors involved in high-technology, advanced care settings. A primary care physician who is up all night assisting a birth or dealing with a patient in crisis may be, "because of sleep deprivation, at increased risk for errors in judgment when seeing patients in the office the next day," the doctors write. Unlike trainees, whose practice is supervised, doctors often have no one overlooking them to catch their mistakes, they added.
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. See www.LowerWC.com for more information. Contact:Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker or agent about workers comp issues.
©2011 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.
A construction worker died and five others were injured after building equipment collapsed at Toronto's York University.
According to a report from The Canadian Press, dozens of emergency responders worked frantically to free the workers trapped under a toppled drilling rig at the site of the future York University subway station. (WCxKit)
A 25-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. He was still buried in the debris when the last of the injured was removed. The victim's name was not immediately released.
The injured included a man who was trapped in the twisted equipment and was extricated as a surgical team stood by. The man was pulled free and transferred to hospital in stable condition, police, and emergency officials said. Of the other four injured, one was taken to hospital in serious condition with multiple injuries.
No students were in the immediate area of the collapse but university officials said classes at Seymour Schulich Building were canceled due to the accident.
There is no word on what caused the drilling rig to collapse. The Ministry of Labour has been called in to investigate.
Peter Macintyre, a spokesman for Toronto Emergency Medical Services, had little information about the patients on Tuesday. He said at least one of them was taken by air ambulance to Sunnybrook Hospital.
Although the construction site belongs to the Toronto Transit Commission, the work was being done by sub-contracted workers, said Brad Ross, a spokesman for the commission. (WCxKit)
That means the contractor is ultimately responsible for the workers safety, Ross said
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. See www.LowerWC.com for more information. Contact: Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker or agent about workers comp issues.
©2011 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact
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