Legal Ethics
4 Lawyers from 1 Law Firm Wrongly Included in N.Y. Pension System
Posted Apr 18, 2008, 10:22 am CDT
By Martha Neil
Updated: Four attorneys working for a prominent education law firm in Albany, N.Y., have been disqualified from the state pension system by New York's comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, because they were not employees but independent contractors.
The four Girvin & Ferlazzo attorneys additionally were shown in records as having worked 1,157 days last year for an Albany area Board of Cooperative Educational Services, when in fact they actually worked 196 days, reports the Times Union. "A fifth lawyer, Salvatore Ferlazzo, has lost his retirement credits with the BOCES but may have credits elsewhere," the Albany newspaper writes.
"We are reviewing every lawyer in our system," says DiNapoli, who plans to revoke pension memberships of all individuals misclassified as employees rather than independent contractors.
As the Times Union notes, the comptroller's review complements an ongoing investigation by the state's attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, as well as federal agencies. It was sparked by Newsday reports that Long Island lawyers were getting state pensions and other employee benefits as private practitioners providing legal representation to school districts.
The Associated Press reports that Cuomo says "the law is very clear on this area. The law between being an independent contractor and an employee is a highly defined, litigated area of law, because it comes up all the time."
Updated at 11:15 a.m. to include Associated Press coverage.
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Posted by Edward kehn, Jr - 4 months, 1 week, 4 hours, 49 minutes ago
Was this an “Oversite” or one more of those companies working a system that isn’t working? These people know they were wrong, but tried to decieve the tax payers. They are attorney’s who know that this was wrong. If in fact , if they are pleading ignorance then they should be fired for incompitence. I hope they are repaying everything they stole from the tax payer. This is one more criminal act that will get a slap on the wrist.,