Company Owner Charged with Misclassifying Roofers to Cut Premiums 90%
- The owner of Middletown, Connecticut-based LA Roofing LLC, has charged with workers’ compensation insurance fraud, a class D felony, after allegedly misclassifying workers to lower his company’s insurance costs, according to an arrest warrant. Luis Pomaquiza was arrested Oct. 15, released on a $10,000 bond and has a Dec. 2 plea hearing in Middletown Superior Court.
- Investigators concluded Pomaquiza knowingly provided false, incomplete or misleading information about the number of employees from Oct. 19, 2023, through Aug. 15, 2024, to pay a lower premium. LA Roofing’s policy carried a $1,340 annual premium based on wages reported only for sales and clerical classifications, with no roofer wages, even though it does roof work. After an August 2024 site visit, the policy was updated to reflect roofer wages and the premium rose to $12,401.
- The warrant says LA Roofing reported roofer wages until a policy was canceled for nonpayment in June 2021, then stopped after obtaining a new policy in July 2021. Pomaquiza told an inspector the company used subcontractors but refused to name them. At a Southington site, eight workers said they worked for LA Roofing, and seven said they were paid in cash.
- The Department of Labor issued a stop-work order Oct. 19, 2023, for misrepresenting employees as independent contractors. It assessed $60,600 in penalties, later reduced to $25,000 and paid in January 2024. The company was cited again after the August 2024 visit and paid a $3,600 penalty.
Court Rules Delta Airlines Improperly Cut Injured Workers’ Benefits
- The Court of Appeals of Georgia has reversed a superior court order and ruled in Lamar v. Delta Airlines, Inc. that Delta did not properly reduce the workers’ compensation benefits of a baggage handler who injured his lumbar spine lifting baggage. The court sent the case back to the State Board of Workers’ Compensation for further consideration, including whether the worker should be awarded attorney fees.
- Lamar had been receiving temporary total disability benefits of $725 a week, based on an average weekly wage of $1,510.30.
- Delta filed a WC-104 form Aug. 14, 2023, converting him to temporary partial disability benefits of $438 a week, based on a July 2023 report from his treating physician. An administrative law judge, the Appellate Division of the State Board and the Fulton County Superior Court all upheld the reduction.
- The court said OCGA § 34-9-104(a)(2) allows an employer to reduce benefits only if the treating physician has released the employee to work with limitations or restrictions. It found the report “makes no recommendation at all regarding Lamar’s ability to return to work,” and said the doctor believed the worker needed more physical therapy and a follow-up visit first.
Sedgwick Approves Teacher’s Claim After Denial Draws News Coverage
- Sedgwick, the third-party claims administrator for North Carolina state employee workers’ compensation claims, approved the claim of a Chapel Hill High School teacher who suffered a heart attack in November 2025 after putting out a fire in a school bathroom. The teacher said he will be reimbursed for the costs he has paid so far and should not incur other costs.
- The claim had initially been approved, then denied, with the denial citing “no injury by accident in the courses/scope of employment.” The denial left the teacher responsible for thousands of dollars in medical bills, and the case was headed to a hearing.
- The lawyer said he received a call Oct. 1 from Sedgwick saying that the claim was being approved, two days after ABC11 aired a story on the Sept. 29. He said the only thing that changed between the position that the claim needed to go to trial and the reversal was the news story. Sedgwick did not respond to ABC11’s request for comment.
- Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools said it cannot comment on a confidential personnel matter. It noted that the State Board of Education provides workers’ compensation coverage for public school employees and the district does not decide what is covered.