Lapsed workers comp policy costs Ohio cleaner

The owner of a Columbus, Ohio, cleaning company who continued to run his business after his workers compensation insurance lapsed in 2010 paid more than $43,000 in restitution to the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, regulators announced Friday.

Gyorgy Benedek, owner of Maintenance Free Building Services Inc., also fraudulently reported zero payroll between 2009 and 2015, but a bureau audit found he had more than 30 employees during that time and unreported payroll of more than $650,000, according to a statement.

Mr. Benedek pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of failure to comply after submitting a check to BWC for $43,069 in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. The plea followed a bureau investigation that revealed Mr. Benedek provided falsified BWC certificates of coverage to land a cleaning contract with another company, according to a statement.

The bureau also announced closure of two other recent cases: Penny L. Sibila, a property manager in Canton, Ohio, who worked while injured, must pay the bureau $26,719 in restitution after pleading guilty to a fifth-degree felony charge of workers compensation fraud; and Frank Krailler of Loveland, Ohio, owner of Transmission Specialists of Montgomery, avoided a felony fraud conviction by paying $4,000 in restitution to the bureau after he was found to be operating without comp insurance.