Bill would make skirting workers’ comp a felony
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June 11, 2003
Attorney Stephen Dennis joined others in criticizing changes which would soften proposed legislation seeking stiffer penalties for employers failing to carry workers’ compensation insurance.
At issue is a bill which would increase the penalties for for Rhode Island employers who fail to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Under the proposed changes, failure to provide workers’ compensation insurance would become a felony and could include fines of up to $1,000 per day for businesses that fail to provide coverage.
The legislation is the result of the Station night club tragedy. The February 20 fire killed more than 100 people, including four employees. Because club owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian had no workers’ compensation insurance, the employee’s families cannot receive workers’ compensation benefits.
As The Providence Journal reports,
By law, any business with one or more employees must carry workers’ compensation coverage.
Despite the egregious conduct of the Derderian brothers, and the fact that “more than 400 businesses that previously had no workers’ compensation insurance” have purchased it since the fire, business advocates still argued that it was possible for an employer to not know that workers’ compensation premiums were not being paid.
In an interview with The Providence Journal, attorney Stephen J. Dennis said that the effort to provide “wiggle room” by allowing employers to claim they did not “knowingly” violate the law is a “loophole” big enough that “you could drive a Mack truck through it.”
Indeed, the provision allowing employers to claim they did not “knowingly” fail to pay workers’ compensation insurance premiums undermines the point of the effort to stiffen penalties in the first place.
Source: The Providence Journal
June 11, 2003
page A1
emphasis added
