Included in the flurry of mail city workers regularly receive at home was one recent — and particularly interesting — missive from the Office of Labor Relations.
The letter informed workers they were now being required to prove that their family members are entitled to health insurance.
The city is trying to make sure that all the people receiving health coverage — a huge portion of the municipal budget — are actually entitled to it.
“We don’t understand why the court or unions would want the city’s taxpayers to pay for the health coverage of people not entitled to participate in the city’s program,” Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway told the News’s City Hall Bureau Chief Jennifer Fermino last week.
That may sound reasonable, but union leaders are raising alarms over the process.
Workers are being asked to send in birth certificates, marriage licenses and — for the first time — tax returns to prove that their dependents are eligible for coverage on their insurance plan.
“We want to make sure that nobody is cheating the system,” a source told the Daily News’ Reuven Blau. “Any prudent employer should be doing this.”
One concern is that divorced couples could still be on city-funded health care plans.
The Municipal Labor Committee sued the city and the Board of Collective Bargaining earlier this month to temporarily stop the audit, saying the city did not bargain in good faith.
The legal wrangling is ongoing, but for now the city was permitted to continue its audit while trying to reach some kind of agreement with the unions.
“We want to protect our members,” said Harry Nespoli, chairman of the Municipal Labor Committee. “We don’t have a problem with the audit, but you have to hand in W2 forms and Social Security numbers. How do we know this stuff is going to be totally destroyed?”
City workers were told that they could face disciplinary or criminal charges — and the prospect of having to repay the city — if the auditors find they’re listing an ineligible family member for insurance coverage, Nespoli’s group said in its lawsuit.
Roughly 150,000 of the 350,000 city employees and retirees have responded. The audit deadline is Sept. 20, 2013.
The process gives workers an opportunity to provide additinal information before anyone is stripped of their coverage, but the Municipal Labor Committee also wants a process for workers to file an appeal .
“When the city drops your medical coverage, do you know how long it takes to get back on the rolls?” Nespoli said. “There could be complete chaos.”
lcolangelo@nydailynews.com
