MagnaCare Releases Landmark White Paper on Chronic Care Management

NEW YORK, N.Y. – May 19, 2011 – MagnaCare, a health plan services company with national reach, announces the release of a White Paper significant to the health care industry and reform efforts nationwide: “The New Face of Chronic Care Management” explores the new paradigm of chronic care management in which coordinated specialty care helps to prevent minor health problems from becoming catastrophic and costly health issues.

“Traditionally, chronic care management has involved health care providers educating patients about their chronic diseases,” says Joseph Berardo Jr., president and CEO of MagnaCare, pointing out that chronic disease affects approximately 133 million Americans regardless of their age, race, or economic status, and, in coming decades, that number is estimated to increase by 37 percent. “Given the emphasis on cost and the failure to address the complexity of chronic conditions, this model has not worked. Today, we understand that truly coordinated care across multiple settings is the key to improving care or controlling costs.”

“The New Face of Chronic Care Management” demonstrates how this approach can lead to a 20 percent reduction in health care costs per member enrolled in a chronic care management program, with patients experiencing better health and fewer costly emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and other major medical episodes.

Effective chronic care management serves the guiding principles behind health and wellness reimbursement by:

• Controlling costs through improved health status of members

• Utilizing claims, lab, and pharmacy data to identify opportunities to improve member health status

• Prospectively applying medical management processes to the population

• Selecting individuals who will benefit from intervention

• Incenting providers to participate in the process

The document further discusses the main objectives of chronic care management to transform member data into actionable information; create insights to target root causes of poor outcomes and high costs; design programs that empower consumers and improve outcomes; and develop provider incentive to support behavior.

“The challenges in chronic care management are ever present, the biggest being how to induce consumers to take an active role in their own health care and how to incent providers to engage patients,” Berardo concludes.

About MagnaCare
MagnaCare, a health plan management company, is proactively reducing the cost of healthcare by offering self-funding options for employers of every size – as few as 15 employees. For more than 20 years, MagnaCare has served commercial employers, health insurers, workers compensation and auto carriers, TPA’s, government entities, and labor markets. MagnaCare offers access to a high quality broad provider network, predictive modeling analysis, member outreach programs or an integrated solution that includes full plan management services. Services include claims adjudication, population management, client/customer service and a full suite of ancillary products.

MagnaCare was selected to the esteemed “Modern Healthcare’s 2010 Best Places to Work in Healthcare.”

Visit www.magnacare.com, www.facebook.com/magnacare, www.twitter.com/magnacare, http://blog.magnacare.com.

Nathan Littauer nurses to protest slow contract talks

Picketing scheduled for Thursday, June 2

GLOVERSVILLE, May 27, 2011 – Registered nurses at Nathan Littauer Hospital need a fair contract that supports their commitment to giving the best care to their patients.

Yet, after nearly eight months of negotiations, hospital management has refused to make improvements in working conditions that will help to recruit and retain nurses.

As a result, the RNs will conduct an informational picket from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Thursday, June 2, in front of the hospital at 99 East State Street. The most-recent four-year contract for the 144 RNs, represented by the New York State Nurses Association, expired on Dec. 31, 2010.

The RNs say the most critical issue is RN-to-patient staffing on high-volume or critical care units. The hospital’s emergency room now has 60 percent more beds since its expansion last year, yet hospital management continues to schedule the same number of staff. Management has refused the nurses’ request to bring back ward clerks in Maternity and Pediatrics. This has left many nurses with responsibility for the clerks’ duties, which can take them away from their direct-care duties.

“We’re making every effort to negotiate in good faith. Our relationship with the hospital is very important to us,” said Nathan Littauer emergency nurse Charles Eschler, RN. He noted that 61 percent of Nathan Littauer RNs have 10 or more years of service. “Yet we question how much hospital management really values us, our concerns about patient care, and our dedicated service to this community.”

The nurses hope the picket will encourage community support for their contract negotiations and lead to the settlement of a fair contract. In addition to the picket, the nurses’ campaign will include community outreach and advertising in local media.

The New York State Nurses Association is the voice for nursing in the Empire State. With more than 37,000 members, it is New York’s largest professional association and union for registered nurses .The association represents registered nurses, and some all-professional bargaining units, in New York and New Jersey. It supports nurses and nursing practice through education, research, legislative advocacy, and collective bargaining.

Nurses Association contact: Mark Genovese at (518) 782-9400, ext. 353

Reject the Tax Cap

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature have already adopted a state budget that drastically cuts funds to schools and local communities — cuts that were far deeper than needed to balance the budget because of Mr. Cuomo’s indefensible refusal to extend a tax surcharge on New York’s wealthiest residents. Now they want to adopt a cheap political tool — a 2 percent property tax cap — that would only further devastate communities around the state that can least afford it.

Mr. Cuomo calls the proposal “a game changer.” He’s right. In the same way that Proposition 13 has ravaged California, a New York property tax cap would do huge damage to already struggling schools and the state’s long-term economic competitiveness. California’s education system was once the envy of the nation. Education Week now ranks it 46th for achievement in grades K-12, below Alabama and South Carolina. New York schools currently rank 8th. For how much longer?

Not surprising, the Albany politicians and business leaders championing the tax cap don’t like to talk about California. Instead, they point to Massachusetts, which capped property taxes at 2.5 percent in 1980. It wasn’t a happy tale there, either. Communities starved of needed revenues were forced to lay off teachers, police officers and firefighters and to shut libraries and senior centers.

Massachusetts schools suffered so badly that the Legislature had to pump in more and more state financing, especially to the poorer school districts.

Mr. Cuomo and other backers insist that communities will still have a choice. The cap could be overridden by a vote of 60 percent of residents in the tax district. (Whatever happened to a simple democratic majority?) Wealthier taxpayers may well vote that way, especially to maintain good schools. It is far less likely to happen in the poorer districts.

When New York’s politicians go on about how New York fails to draw businesses because of high taxes, even they must know that’s ridiculous. Taxes generally rank behind education, infrastructure and other criteria when businesses decide to relocate and invest. Employees and bosses want to know about the schools. Business owners want to know if there is an educated work force. No public services? Who wants to move or work there?

Let’s be clear: A tax cap is nothing more than a political crutch for politicians who don’t have the courage to argue the case for more taxes or for spending cuts.

Mr. Cuomo, the Legislature and local politicians have to make the tough decisions to raise revenue and wrestle down personnel costs, streamline services and rationalize costly state mandates.

Property taxes in New York are undeniably high. But a tax cap is not the answer. It is an invitation to disaster.

Video Report: Safety In The Workplace – a BALCONY Forum, May 6, 2011

May 6, 2011, more than 100 New York labor and management safety experts participated in a Safety in the Workplace Conference presented by BALCONY, LABORPRESS, headed by Neal Tepel, and the Mason Tenders at the Milberg Law Firm in New York City.

BALCONY Director Lou Gordon, forum moderator, introduced the central question of the day: “How does the current anti-regulatory environment impact worker safety?”

Key speakers included Assembly Member Rory Lancman, Joel Shufro of NYCOSH, John Delgado of Laborers Local 79, Matthew Funk of the Pasternack law firm and John Samuelsen, President of TWU Local 100. (R-L in photo above).

The discussion focused on the federal OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and state responsibilities, funding issues, inspections of the workplace and finally the fatalities and injuries incurred by workers on the job.

Included in the BALCONY/LABORPRESS program was the
March 16, 2011 Congressional testimony by OSHA Assistant Secretary of Labor David Michaels. (Click here for the testimony)

Also included in the Safety program was an analysis of workplace injuries compiled by American Rights at Work. (Click here for the analysis)

The full VIDEO report of the Forum can be viewed at this link: SAFETY

Assembly tax cap bill would devastate schools, working families

ALBANY, N.Y. May 24, 2011 – New York State United Teachers said property tax cap legislation proposed today by the Assembly would hurt students and fracture communities, by allowing undemocratic minority rule to overpower the will of the majority of voters who want to invest in their local schools.

“New York would be devastated by the toughest cap in the nation at a time when its public schools have suffered three years of the toughest cuts to education,” said NYSUT President Richard C. Iannuzzi. “There’s no question this strikes at the heart of the educational needs of the most vulnerable students, especially children of color and children who live in poverty.

In fact, Iannuzzi said, “Two-thirds of the school budgets that would have failed under the undemocratic and unreasonable ‘super-majority’ vote proposed in this bill are in New York’s neediest school districts. That’s why this is wrong. That’s why this is inequitable. That’s why this is unfair.”

NYSUT Executive Vice President Andrew Pallotta noted the state NAACP, in a May 9 letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, strongly opposed the proposed 2 percent tax cap, saying it would “exacerbate the achievement gap” and “cause irreparable harm toward the education of students in this state.”

In addition to locking in inequities in budget cuts suffered by poor and rural school districts, Pallotta said the Assembly tax cap proposal makes no exemption for spiraling health insurance costs and skyrocketing transportation costs in a year in which the price of diesel fuel rose 30 percent. Both, he said, are beyond the ability of school districts and municipalities to control and would lead to even deeper cuts to education programs.

“The most glaring inequity is the undemocratic way this bad bill sets up a ‘protected class’ – the 40 percent of voters who would be able to block the will of the majority when they want to invest more in their children, their schools and their property values by providing the best education possible to students,” Pallotta said.

NYSUT President Iannuzzi said pending tax cap legislation is another blow to working New Yorkers.

“A terrible tax cap; three years of deep cuts to education; the state’s failure to meet its constitutional obligations to equalize funding to poor and rural school districts – coupled with billions of dollars in tax breaks for the wealthy – lead to the question: How much more can New York’s working families and low-wealth communities bear?”

NYSUT, the state’s largest union, represents more than 600,000 teachers, school-related professionals, academic and professional faculty in higher education, professionals in education and health care and retirees. NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association and the AFL-CIO.

Critics of the Mayor’s Budget Put Forth Their Own Ideas

by Javier C. Hernandez

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, facing a reduction in state and federal aid and a rise in city costs, has said that balancing New York’s budget will require shuttering 20 firehouses and laying off 4,100 teachers.

“We’re going to have to make some choices,” Mr. Bloomberg said during his weekly radio show with John Gambling on WOR-AM last Friday. “I can just tell you this: If you don’t cut A, then B’s going to get cut.”

Members of the City Council, community advocates and interest groups agree. But they have their own ideas about what B should be. With five weeks until a deadline for passing a budget, they are offering alternatives.

Not surprisingly, their proposals aim to save popular places and programs — firehouses, day care centers, rental vouchers for homeless families — and focus on the unpopular and the arcane.

Here are some of the alternatives that have been proposed:

CUT CONSULTANTS Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, argues that the Education Department should vastly reduce its spending on outside consultants. According to an analysis by his office, spending on consultants increased to $142 million in 2012, from about $33 million in 2004. (The numbers exclude special education costs, often mandated by law.)

“The solution to the teacher-layoff crisis is somewhere in this executive budget,” Mr. Stringer said. “There is a tremendous amount of waste regarding outside consultants across city agencies.”

The department has said that the consultants are needed and that their cost is reasonable.

Bill de Blasio, the city’s public advocate, wants to cut back on information-technology consultants at the department ($52 million) and reduce spending on teacher recruitment ($20 million) and the department’s public affairs office ($2.6 million).

AGGRESSIVELY SEEK REIMBURSEMENTS The United Federation of Teachers argues that the city could mitigate teacher layoffs by claiming millions more dollars in federal reimbursements for services like transportation and speech therapy for special-needs students. Many of the reimbursements were halted after the federal government accused the city of lax reporting practices in 2005.

The city has been working to devise a new reporting system, which is supposed to be in place this fall, education officials said, and could allow the city to collect an additional $117 million in reimbursements next year.

But Michael Mulgrew, the United Federation of Teachers president, said that the city’s goal was too conservative, and that it should be working to recoup money from previous years. “With the mayor saying the budget is so tight that he has to do layoffs and cut services, how can he let this huge source of revenue go begging because of poor management?” he said.

Barbara Morgan, a spokeswoman for the department, said, “We continue to aggressively pursue reimbursements and are working toward a long-term streamlined solution.”

RAISE SOME TAXES The Council’s Progressive Caucus is among the few voices calling for more taxes. It has asked Albany to reinstate a tax surcharge for high-income New Yorkers, and other groups have pushed for an increase in the hotel room tax. But Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Mr. Bloomberg oppose raising taxes, virtually killing the idea in the Council.

COLLECT ALL EXISTING TAXES Several groups have urged the city to do a better job collecting taxes that are already on the books. District Council 37, the city’s largest union, has suggesting hiring more employees to collect taxes on billboards and cellphone towers (the union estimates that would bring in more than $40 million). The union has also suggested ending thousands of dollars in tax breaks for strip clubs. Marc LaVorgna, a spokesman for the mayor, said the city had been expanding its tax-collecting force, and noted that the union had previously criticized efforts to devote more staff members to collecting taxes.

TAX PLASTIC BAGS The Independent Budget Office has offered its own list of budget ideas, including imposing a tax on plastic bags used in supermarkets (estimated to bring in $94 million) and eliminating parent coordinators from schools (estimated to save $86.7 million).

As the Council begins hearings on the budget, even its own members say they will probably be unable to save everything.

“I’m not all that sanguine about my ability to restore every vital service,” Lewis A. Fidler of Brooklyn, the Council’s assistant majority leader, said. “One or more of these sacred cows are going to wind up slaughtered.”

Deal Reached in Albany to Cap Property Taxes

by Danny Hakim

ALBANY — Pledging to provide relief to highly taxed suburban homeowners, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders said Tuesday that they had agreed to place a 2 percent limit on property tax increases in a plan that rivals the toughest such measures in the nation.

The proposed property tax cap, which must be approved by the Legislature, is aimed at reversing the economic decline in many parts of the state outside of New York City. It also seeks to curb soaring property tax bills in areas like Long Island, Westchester County and pockets of upstate New York, where residents are facing among the highest property taxes in the nation.

Some residents, particularly those who are older and live on fixed incomes, are being forced out of their homes by rising property taxes.

“It is going to be a game changer, and it’s going to change the trajectory of this state,” Mr. Cuomo said.

New York has long had some of the highest property taxes in the nation, and those taxes increased by 5.5 percent, on average, each year from 1999 to 2009, according to statistics provided by the Cuomo administration.

The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan research group, said this month that three of the five highest-taxed counties in the nation were in New York: Nassau, Westchester and Rockland Counties. In Nassau and Westchester, the median annual property tax bill exceeds $8,000.

The tax-cap agreement was welcomed by business and farm groups, but teachers’ unions reacted with dismay, saying the move would cause cuts to money for education and would diminish the quality of public schools. The unions pointed to California as an example, saying a property tax cap and broader budget woes have had a harmful effect on schools in that state.

“New York would be devastated by the toughest cap in the nation at a time when its public schools have suffered three years of the toughest cuts to education,” said Richard C. Iannuzzi, president of New York State United Teachers. “There’s no question this strikes at the heart of the educational needs of the most vulnerable students, especially children of color and children who live in poverty.”

The agreement gives the Democratic governor, who made limiting property tax increases a cornerstone of his campaign, his biggest political victory since the Legislature approved an on-time and relatively austere budget in March, and it further establishes Mr. Cuomo’s record of fiscal conservatism.

The agreement, which would take effect next year, would limit the annual increase in the overall amount of property taxes collected by a local government or a school district. Property tax increases for individual homeowners could vary as properties are reassessed.

“This issue is probably the most powerful and pervasive issue across this state,” the governor said at an appearance with legislative leaders on Tuesday. “People in New York City don’t feel it, but I can’t tell you how many times somebody has come up to me and said, ‘You have to do something about property taxes; I just can’t afford to stay in my home anymore.’ ”

The Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, has said the tax cap should be approved only in concert with the renewal, and the strengthening, of rent-stabilization regulations in New York City. But Mr. Cuomo, who supports strengthening rent stabilization, and the Senate majority leader, Dean G. Skelos, a Republican from Long Island who does not, said they did not believe the rent issue would jeopardize the passage of a property tax cap before the scheduled end of the legislative session, June 20.

Forty-three other states have some limits on property taxes. But New York is unusual because property taxes are the main source of support for schools outside of the city, where the schools are primarily financed by a municipal income tax.

While some details remain to be worked out, particularly the length of time before the legislation expires, legislative leaders in both parties said they were confident that a final agreement was at hand.

“This is a great day,” said Mr. Skelos, adding, “New York State once again can be competitive in creating jobs, and rather than exporting people, bringing people to the state.”

Mr. Silver said, “With this legislation, we are finally able to bring property taxes under control and still provide critical services.”

The property tax cap has been debated for more than a decade in Albany. Assembly Democrats have traditionally spurned tax-cap proposals, while Senate Republicans have floated them for years. But the opposition of powerful teachers’ unions, which have influence across the aisles, previously prevented any serious negotiations.

This year, Mr. Cuomo made a property tax cap a top priority, and he used his popularity and political muscle to exert pressure on Mr. Silver, who was inclined to accommodate a fellow Democrat. Mr. Cuomo has also lined up with Mr. Silver in supporting a strengthening of rent-control regulations.

The agreement came after Mr. Silver outlined a proposal for a property tax cap that surprised tax cap advocates with its strength. The Republican-controlled Senate had approved a similar tax-cap proposal, and Senate leaders welcomed the Assembly plan, but said there were still details to negotiate.

The primary remaining disagreement between the Assembly and the Senate is how long the property tax cap would remain in place. The Senate wanted a permanent cap; the Assembly proposed that the cap last as long as rent-stabilization regulations in New York City. Still, both sides said they had agreed to the broad principles of a 2 percent cap on property tax increases.

As outlined by the Assembly, the deal would have some exemptions. Among them, contributions that school districts make into the state pension system would be partly discounted so that pension increases of more than 2 percent from the previous year would not be counted against the 2 percent cap. Districts would be able to adjust tax levies if new development in their areas increased the tax base.

The tax cap could also be overridden with 60 percent of a local school district vote.

Edmund J. McMahon, director of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a research group that favors reduced government spending, said the proposed cap would be among the most stringent in the nation. While Massachusetts has a 2.5 percent cap, the exemptions included in the New York proposal could mean the effective cap would be 2.5 percent to 3 percent, depending on pension contribution rates, he said.

“It’s among the tightest tax levy caps,” Mr. McMahon said. “You actually have a game-changing alteration.”

Nurse attacked at Tryon juvenile facility speaks out after brutal attack by 15-year-old girl

Albany – A nurse who survived a violent attack by a 15-year-old girl inside Tryon Residential Center last
week shared her story with reporters today in hopes the violence inside the facility will finally be addressed.
Cheryl Huxhold has been a nurse for more than a decade and has cared for youth at the Tryon juvenile facility
in Johnstown, Fulton County for the past four years.

On Tuesday, May 17, a male youth counselor was holding a meeting with a group of youths when the 15-yearold
pulled up her shirt exposing her breast to the counselor and began taunting him. The counselor ignored the
girl who then pulled down a book case, stood on it, put her hand down her pants and smeared vaginal fluid on
the counselor. The counselor called for Cheryl, the only available female employee in the area.

“I decided to speak out today because I think it’s time someone stands up to say, ‘Enough is enough,’” Cheryl
said. “The violence in the Tryon facility has reached an alarming level. The youths are assaulting one
another and staff on a regular basis.”

During the attack last week, the girl threatened Cheryl and then began spitting on her and repeatedly stabbing
her with a pen.

“It all happened so quickly,” Cheryl said. “She was punching and kicking me as other girls and the counselor
tried to get her off of me,” she added. The girl was eventually subdued by the male counselor. Cheryl was
taken to the hospital. She suffered a concussion, chipped teeth, facial lacerations, multiple wounds from being
stabbed with the pen and bruising. The girl was arrested and the investigation is continuing.

“The violence Cheryl and others have endured at their place of employment is shocking and unacceptable,”
said PEF Secretary-Treasurer Arlea Igoe. “There have been little to no consequences for the youths involved in
these attacks. Unfortunately, the commissioner of the state Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS)
refuses to acknowledge or address the escalating violence. Commissioner Gladys Carrion has routinely blamed
staff while implementing polices and procedures that give these troubled youths the upper hand and rushing
them into community-based programs that are inappropriate and don’t provide the intensive treatment needed.

“PEF has long advocated for increased safety for residents and staff. The increase in violence and injury is
well documented, yet Carrion has been allowed to continue to mismanage the agency at the expense of youth
and staff alike,” Igoe added.

OCFS has been ranked the most dangerous agency in which to work in New York State according to the state
Department of Civil Service.

Critics of the Mayor’s Budget Put Forth Their Own Ideas

By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, facing a reduction in state and federal aid and a rise in city costs, has said that balancing New York’s budget will require shuttering 20 firehouses and laying off 4,100 teachers.

“We’re going to have to make some choices,” Mr. Bloomberg said during his weekly radio show with John Gambling on WOR-AM last Friday. “I can just tell you this: If you don’t cut A, then B’s going to get cut.”

Members of the City Council, community advocates and interest groups agree. But they have their own ideas about what B should be. With five weeks until a deadline for passing a budget, they are offering alternatives.

Not surprisingly, their proposals aim to save popular places and programs — firehouses, day care centers, rental vouchers for homeless families — and focus on the unpopular and the arcane.

Here are some of the alternatives that have been proposed:

CUT CONSULTANTS Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, argues that the Education Department should vastly reduce its spending on outside consultants. According to an analysis by his office, spending on consultants increased to $142 million in 2012, from about $33 million in 2004. (The numbers exclude special education costs, often mandated by law.)

“The solution to the teacher-layoff crisis is somewhere in this executive budget,” Mr. Stringer said. “There is a tremendous amount of waste regarding outside consultants across city agencies.”

The department has said that the consultants are needed and that their cost is reasonable.

Bill de Blasio, the city’s public advocate, wants to cut back on information-technology consultants at the department ($52 million) and reduce spending on teacher recruitment ($20 million) and the department’s public affairs office ($2.6 million).

AGGRESSIVELY SEEK REIMBURSEMENTS The United Federation of Teachers argues that the city could mitigate teacher layoffs by claiming millions more dollars in federal reimbursements for services like transportation and speech therapy for special-needs students. Many of the reimbursements were halted after the federal government accused the city of lax reporting practices in 2005.

The city has been working to devise a new reporting system, which is supposed to be in place this fall, education officials said, and could allow the city to collect an additional $117 million in reimbursements next year.

But Michael Mulgrew, the United Federation of Teachers president, said that the city’s goal was too conservative, and that it should be working to recoup money from previous years. “With the mayor saying the budget is so tight that he has to do layoffs and cut services, how can he let this huge source of revenue go begging because of poor management?” he said.

Barbara Morgan, a spokeswoman for the department, said, “We continue to aggressively pursue reimbursements and are working toward a long-term streamlined solution.”

RAISE SOME TAXES The Council’s Progressive Caucus is among the few voices calling for more taxes. It has asked Albany to reinstate a tax surcharge for high-income New Yorkers, and other groups have pushed for an increase in the hotel room tax. But Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Mr. Bloomberg oppose raising taxes, virtually killing the idea in the Council.

COLLECT ALL EXISTING TAXES Several groups have urged the city to do a better job collecting taxes that are already on the books. District Council 37, the city’s largest union, has suggesting hiring more employees to collect taxes on billboards and cellphone towers (the union estimates that would bring in more than $40 million). The union has also suggested ending thousands of dollars in tax breaks for strip clubs. Marc LaVorgna, a spokesman for the mayor, said the city had been expanding its tax-collecting force, and noted that the union had previously criticized efforts to devote more staff members to collecting taxes.

TAX PLASTIC BAGS The Independent Budget Office has offered its own list of budget ideas, including imposing a tax on plastic bags used in supermarkets (estimated to bring in $94 million) and eliminating parent coordinators from schools (estimated to save $86.7 million).

As the Council begins hearings on the budget, even its own members say they will probably be unable to save everything.

“I’m not all that sanguine about my ability to restore every vital service,” Lewis A. Fidler of Brooklyn, the Council’s assistant majority leader, said. “One or more of these sacred cows are going to wind up slaughtered.”

Downfall of New York builder HRH Construction – HRH bankruptcy gets messy as fraud allegations surface

By Daniel Massey

Bankruptcy trustee Marianne O’Toole arrived at the offices of HRH Construction in White Plains on April 15—premises she had personally secured three days earlier—to seize the company’s records. She found the front door ajar.

Computers belonging to HRH’s chief executive, in-house counsel and human resources manager were missing. A cabinet had been emptied and recent work files had vanished, a complaint in U.S. Bankruptcy Court alleges.

Electronic key card records revealed that cards belonging to the firm’s counsel and tech guru had been used the morning after Ms. O’Toole sealed the office. Someone with the techie’s card had spent 12 hours there over two days. It was the latest in a series of bizarre actions that have buried a once-storied New York builder.

Once owned by the family of former Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch, the 86-year-old firm built Citicorp’s headquarters and was Donald Trump’s contractor of choice. It placed seventh on the 2007 Crain’s list of top area contractors, reporting $455 million in revenue. Profits were $3.7 million.

But in 2009, the company lost $1.2 million and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It hit bottom last month, abandoning its reorganization and moving to a Chapter 7 liquidation.

HRH’s demise is a tale of skullduggery and alleged fraud. Its downfall was accelerated by a union that suspected the firm had set up a nonunion alter ego to sidestep its labor contracts, a practice known as double-breasting. To send a message to HRH and other contractors, Local 46 Metallic Lathers Union inserted itself into the bankruptcy case.

“The union’s efforts, in part, have led to the destruction of this business,” Paul Silverstein, an attorney who represents Remus Holdings, a company connected to HRH, told the court last month.

Cracks in foundation
HRH’s downward spiral began in the early 2000s when it worked as construction manager on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s scandal-plagued 2 Broadway building. The project ran $300 million over budget, and in 2007, arbitrators ordered HRH to repay $6.5 million for overbilling and charging for no-show jobs.

HRH filed for bankruptcy two years later. The move bought HRH some time—the MTA has yet to collect a penny—but gave Local 46 an opening to pursue its growing suspicion that HRH was operating a separate nonunion company.

The double-breasting threat hit the union almost literally in June 2009, when members picketing over the use of nonunion workers at 350 W. 37th St. were nearly struck by a cinderblock thrown from the building. A company called Leviathan was the project’s construction manager, and HRH was the owner’s representative. A similar arrangement existed at three other projects, including one being built by Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s Canyon Johnson Urban Funds.

The union bought several claims, including $1,246.31 owed to a Yonkers exterminator, to gain standing in bankruptcy court, and set out to prove its case.

“We are going to take all available legal action to protect our union and the building trades,” said Bob Ledwith, business manager of Local 46.

Local 46 formed a labor committee with two other unions, subpoenaing documents from HRH and its clients and deposing company executives, including CEO Brad Singer. A committee lawyer grilled Mr. Singer about his firm’s relationship to Leviathan. Mr. Singer at first said an old friend—an out-of-work insurance executive with no construction experience—started Leviathan at his suggestion. Questioned further, Mr. Singer revealed even closer ties.

“Have you learned the names of any of the members of Leviathan Construction Management Services LLC?” asked the labor committee’s lawyer, Thomas Kennedy, according to the transcript. Mr. Singer said that Avery Maya LLC, named after his granddaughter, was the lone member.

“And who are the members of Avery Maya?” Mr. Kennedy asked.

“My wife … Susan,” Mr. Singer answered. “I think it’s [headquartered at] Susan’s mother’s house.”

Further digging showed that HRH paid health insurance premiums and office expenses for Leviathan and that its principal employees had all worked for HRH. Documents revealed that HRH had guaranteed Leviathan’s work. The unions believed HRH had run money through Leviathan to keep it from creditors.

Questionable transfers
“All of the Leviathan money should have been part of this [bankruptcy] estate, should be added to this estate,” Mr. Kennedy told the court in February.

The labor committee also found that $11 million had been transferred from HRH to Singer-controlled entities including Remus, which was run by Mr. Singer’s brother Gary. The unions contended that this was to shield the assets from the bankruptcy estate; Mr. Silverstein, the Remus lawyer, said in an interview that it was to repay Remus’ loans to HRH.

But the loans were simply contributions that the Singers “recharacterized … in order to thwart HRH creditors,” MTA lawyers argued in court papers in 2009, adding, “Transfers subsequently made to [Singer entities] are intentionally and constructively fraudulent.”

Mr. Silverstein did not respond to additional questions. Neither Arthur Goldstein, an attorney for HRH, nor Jesse Schneider, an attorney for Leviathan, returned calls.

The transfers and Remus’ foot-dragging in turning over documents prompted Robert Drain, the judge in the case, to proclaim last month: “I have to tell you, it doesn’t look or smell good. … My concern is that it’s the tip of the iceberg.” He asked for the appointment of a trustee who “does not hesitate to get to the bottom of the facts and will be dogged in doing so.”

He got Ms. O’Toole, who, days into the job, discovered the White Plains break-in. It’s unclear if she has recovered the missing files and computers. Doggedness, in this case, might not be enough.