SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — New York State identified $2.7 million in workers’-compensation fraud and made 14 arrests for such fraud in 2024, representing a nearly 30 percent increase in both figures compared to 2023.
The finding is part of the 2024 annual report of the New York State Workers’-Compensation Fraud Inspector General (WCFIG). New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang on Tuesday formally presented the WCFIG annual report to the Workers’-Compensation Board during its April meeting in Schenectady.
Lang also detailed for the board the strides that the WCFIG has made over the past year uncovering fraud and bolstering the integrity of the state’s workers’-compensation system, per the announcement from the Offices of the Inspector General.
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Besides the fraud amount and arrests, the 2024 work of the WCFIG involved broad public outreach through various television, print, radio/podcasts, online publications, task forces, and trainings. The effort resulted in the receipt of 1,436 complaints alleging fraud by medical providers, employers, and claimants, via telephone, online form, email, mail, and social-media platforms, as detailed in the report.
The WCFIG work also involved more than $1.4 million in restitution and fines awarded to defrauded state agencies, insurers, and employers. The dollar figure also represented an increase in enforcement outcomes across the board compared to 2023, the office said.
The report also provided details on investigations that targeted a medical-billing provider in Brooklyn that diverted over $1.9 million from 13 insurers intended as payments to surgeons caring for workers’-compensation claimants. The $1.9 million included more than $1.3 million diverted from the New York State Insurance Fund, the report said.
Another probe focused on a paving-company owner in Saratoga who was operating a business with multiple employees without obtaining workers’-compensation coverage whose conduct came to light after one of his employees sustained an on-the-job injury.
“We are grateful to the Inspector General’s Office for their dedication to ensuring a fair workers’ compensation system in New York State,” Clarissa Rodriguez, who chairs the New York State Workers’-Compensation Board, said in the announcement. “Their important work to uncover fraud and hold bad actors accountable protects workers and employers alike, and upholds the integrity of the system for all New Yorkers.”
