The New York Disability Law Blog : New York Disability Lawyer & Attorney : Turley, Redmond & Rosasco : Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, Nassau, Suffolk, Bronx, Staten Island

Turley, Redmond & Rosasco founding partner William "Bill" Turley was endorsed today by Newsday as Smithtown's next representative in the Suffolk County Legislature.  Bill, who has been practicing workers' compensation and disability claim law on Long Island for over 20 years, impressed the Newsday staff with his innovative ideas on clean energy and immigration. 

• 13TH DISTRICT
  
  North Smithtown, part of Huntington
  
  Republican Lynn Nowick, 60, of St. James, is running for a fourth term. Her assiduous constituent services assure her popularity. But she has few constructive new ideas, especially regarding the 800-pound gorilla in her district: the fate of the former Kings Park Psychiatric Center.
  
  On this vexing issue, her Democratic opponent, William Turley, 49, of Fort Salonga, agrees that the legislature has little influence beyond rhetorical support of a better proposal for the complex's use. But Turley, an attorney specializing in workers' compensation, brings a refreshing and progressive perspective that differs sharply with Nowick's in every other respect. He favors hiring halls for migrant workers, wants stricter penalties for sex offenders but is concerned about the constitutionality of residential restrictions, and would push for alternative energy policies in the county to offset dependence on foreign oil. We endorse Turley.
  

For many disabled clients on Long Island and New York City, Bill has been a steady hand guiding them through the disability claim maze.  Good luck Bill on November 6th!

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Being a construction worker in New York City is becoming more deadly, according to new reports from the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Amid a building boom in New York, construction worker accident related deaths are up 87% since 2005. 

As the NY Times reported earlier this year on construction deaths, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has already taken some positive health and safety inspection measures to stem work related scaffold and ladder accidents in New York City.  However, it appears that part of the problem involves the intractable immigration crisis. 

Many shady construction general contractors and sub-contractors are hiring non-union undocumented workers who are not given adequate safety training or equipment.  As can be expected, the death toll is falling disproportionately on Latino construction workers.  This is because the percentage of Latin and Mexican construction workers are growing by leaps and bounds.  In addition, immigrants from India, Poland and other Eastern European countries are increasing on non-union (i.e., less safe) work sites. 

The workers' compensation lawyers at Turley, Redmond & Rosasco have unfortunately witnessed the impact of construction accident deaths on families first hand.  Hopefully, the issue of immigrant construction worker safety in NYC will be studied by the newly confirmed Chair of the NY Workers' Compensation Board, Zachary S Weiss.  As Governor Spitzer so correctly notes, we cannot stick our heads in the sand and pretend these immigrant workers do not exist.  These are real human beings who are dying almost every day, sometimes due to employer greed trying to avoid paying union wages.  Let us not build our gleaming New York City skyline on a foundation of blood.

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Thanks to Jane Reilly and all those at the Long Island, New York Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society for inviting me to participate at their annual free "Meet the Attorney" night last week at the Melville headquarters.  I had a private meeting with a lovely woman struggling with MS to discuss both her ERISA long term disability claim with Unum, and her pending Social Security Disability claim.  

I advised her NOT to use the "free" representation from GENEX Services to assist her with her Social Security Disability claim, as GENEX operates solely for the benefit of Unum, and therefore has a major conflict of interest similar to Allsup and Advantage 2000.  (See my previous blog posts  about Allsup and Advantage 2000 for the full story).  GENEX is no better! Did you know that GENEX Services was a wholly owned subsidiary of Unum until just recently, and that Unum remains their major client.  This tells you everything you need to know. 

I told this grateful woman she would be far better off hiring a private attorney to represent her in her Social Security Disability claim,  regardless of who the particular attorney is.   Attorneys have an ethical obligation to guard the client's secrets and confidences, as opposed to GENEX which is obligated to share personal information with Unum since Unum is paying their bill.  Money talks!

In other MS news, my partner Chris Redmond participated in a Bike-A-Thon recently to raise funds for multiple sclerosis research.  Finally, Chris' Uncle Ed Keegan, age 69 and still a top New York Life Insurance Agent, made headlines in Newsday by walking across Long Island in a T-shirt that read "Who Gives 100%?" to raise funds for MS.  Ed's daughter has MS.  Ed Keegan gives 100% ! Thanks Ed!

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