Horsham employer to pay state $113K for injured worker

A Horsham man who owns a roofing business is on the hook for $113,021 for failing to provide workers compensation insurance for an employee who was later injured on the job.

Paul A. Giovinazzo, who owns and operates Paul Giovinazzo Roofing, received a one-year probation after pleading guilty Thursday in Montgomery County Court to a charge of failing to procure workers compensation insurance for his employees.

Giovinazzo, 53, of the 700 block of Marietta Drive in the Ambler section of Horsham, will have to pay $113,021 in restitution to the Pennsylvania Uninsured Employer Guarantee Fund for costs it incurred in covering the compensation costs for the uninsured employee.

The victim, who was performing work for Giovinazzos roofing company, suffered unspecified serious injuries when he fell off a roof at a job site in Whitpain on May 19, 2008.

The victim in November 2009 filed a claim petition against Giovinazzo and the state uninsured guarantee fund, according to a criminal complaint.

Giovinazzo contested the petition, claiming the victim was not an employee of his company but, instead, was an independent contractor who was responsible for his own workers compensation insurance, the complaint said.

A workers compensation judge in July 2011 granted the victims claim, agreeing that there was an employee-employer relationship between Giovinazzo and the victim, according to the complaint. That same judge also ruled that Giovinazzo should have had workers compensation insurance not only for the victim but for his other workers, the complaint said.

The Pennsylvania Workers Compensation Appeals Board in August 2011 upheld the judges ruling, the complaint said.

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry in February 2013 referred the matter to county detectives for prosecution of the alleged violation of the Pennsylvania Workers Compensation Act.

Read more:
Horsham employer to pay state $113K for injured worker