New York Law Blog

Last week a Department of Environmental Protection worker was killed in a workplace accident in Brooklyn after a conveyor belt he was moving with some coworkers collapsed on him. Another man was injured in the incident as he was trying to help the victim.  Trolman, Glaser and Lichtman senior partner Jeffrey Lichtman had this to say about the accident:

I have seen countless accidents where safety regulations are violated taking the life of an innocent worker.  What is most troubling to me is that these accidents could be prevented.  In this particular incident, Mr. Montello was killed when a conveyor belt collapsed on him at the Brooklyn Sewage Treatment Plant where he works.  This case is still under investigation and we will follow it in order to determine what happened.  My hope is that the sewage plant didn’t ignore safety violations which in turn took this 45 year old father’s life.

Trolman, Glaser & Lichtman: Don’t Settle For Less

After a fatal construction accident in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, it was discovered that the contractor responsible for the site was running the job site with a fake license. The man took on the identity of another to utilize a special rigger’s license which gave him the ability to set up scaffolding. TGL senior partner Jeffrey Lichtman weighs in on the tragic event:

This is an extremely troubling situation that combines the negligence of a fraudulent contractor and a failure of the City to recognize a scheme before it resulted in the horrific death of an innocent worker. Numerous safety regulations were ignored and violated including the lack of a certified foreman to oversee the project. Following these discoveries, the Buildings Department suspended work at as many as 28 other construction sites in the City involving the same "contractor." Rose Gill Hearn, the commissioner of the investigation department, said that the case involved "brazen fraud, unsafe construction practices, and a worker’s tragic death. The individuals in this scheme put the lives of workers and the public in danger." My hope is that the City responds aggressively and actively so as to avoid future incidences of fraud and negligent disregard for safety regulations at construction sites.

It was first revealed a few weeks ago that Long Island Rail Road retirees were collecting double disability claims, and now the New York Times is reporting that a group of “disability consultants and physicians” were assisting record numbers of LIRR workers to collect disability along with their pensions for early retirement. According to the TImes, the LIRR had “the nation’s hightest rate of disabled retirees even while it was earning awards for employee safety.” Now a state and federal investigation is looking into these allegations of fraud against the LIRR by employees.

One consultant, Marie T. Baran, ran the board’s Long Island office until she quit two years ago and began selling advice to rail workers on how to navigate the system of which she had been a part. Other disability advisers are prominent former union leaders, including one who once represented labor on the board of the L.I.R.R.’s parent agency, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Government investigators are particularly interested in learning why L.I.R.R. retirees tend to use the same physicians, while citing the same ailments in numbers far out of line with other railroads. Investigators have issued dozens of subpoenas to consultants, doctors and retirees, among others.

Disability consultants are charging roughly $1,000 for the use of their services. Several of these consultants, as well as a few doctors, have been subpoenaed by the state attorney general regarding the investigation into the fraud.