According to a news report from northcountrygazette.org, “The owner of a popular midtown pizza restaurant has been arrested for failing to secure workers’ compensation coverage, pay overtime wages and make required contributions to the State Unemployment Insurance Fund.”
“The employer is also charged with submitting false statements to the Workers’ Compensation Board and the Department of Labor,” said the story. “The Attorney General’s office says Atmi Kurtishi, 48, president of Madrit’s Gourmet Restaurant, Inc., which operates “Madrit’s Pronto Pizza” at 55 West 55th Street, New York, failed to have workers’ compensation insurance while employing more than five employees, in violation of the new Workers’ Compensation Law that makes such actions a class E felony, punishable by up to four years in prison.”
According to the article, “The Attorney General and the New York State Department of Labor also charged Kurtishi with 13 counts of fraud, all class E felonies, for allegedly lying to state agencies by filing false documentation. Kurtishi further allegedly failed to pay his workers overtime wages in the amount of $88,350.55, a class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail. In addition to paying back the workers the wages they earned, Kurtishi also faces fines and penalties of over $100,000.”
