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Unpaid bill costs ECDC thousands in penalties

County party organization let workers compensation and disability insurance coverage lapse

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Officials with the Erie County Democratic Committee (ECDC) say an un-opened bill led to a fine from the NYS Workers Compensation Board (WCB).

On April 3, a stop-work order was posted on the door to the headquarters for the county party over lapsed workers compensation and disability insurance. This kind of coverage is mandated by state law for all employers.

A visit to the WCB website finds that EDCD was without workers comp coverage for five months and had no disability coverage for over eight months.

A day after the stop-work order was posted the party had reinstated its coverage.

Melissa Stewart at WCB tells 2 On Your Side that the penalties to ECDC for failing to maintain coverage is just over $7,600.

Margaret Murphy, an attorney for ECDC says, "We'll pay whatever we need to pay. This is an expensive mistake and we're taking steps to make sure this never happens again.

Murphy says a now-former ECDC employee had failed to open the bill when it arrived by mail, causing the lapse insurance and temporarily canceled policies.   

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