By: Nick Buglione
The cuts were part of a 7.5 percent corporation layoff announced by President and CEO Richard Turan last September.
It's the second time in as many years the Nassau Health Care Corporation, which runs the Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, has cut staff.
In the beginning of 2002, 343 corporation employees were laid off to trim down its gaping financial deficit.
The corporation is still in financial dire straits, finishing 2003 with a $14 million deficit.
Turan maintains the new cuts, which included surgical technicians, occupational therapists, social workers and nurse practitioners, will not compromise patient care. Hospital workers and union leaders disagree, stating in a published report that patient care will ultimately suffer.
The layoffs came at the heels of a report by Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman detailing that the corporation was behind on its required 2003 pension contribution to the New York State Retirement System.
The county comptroller has conducted monthly cash balance reviews of the beleaguered health care corporation and his most recent review showed that it had only paid 20 percent of its employee pension bill for 2003. That's $1.6 million of the $8 million it owes, Weitzman said.
The comptroller began conducting monthly reviews of the corporation after he discovered a precipitous decline last September in its cash-on-hand during the first eight months of 2003.
The corporation released a statement partially attributing its inability to pay on escalating pension costs, claiming they have quadrupled over the last year. Corporation have requested the state retirement system allow it to make the rest of its payments in five installments.
Meanwhile, the state Ethics Commission's decision on Turan's alleged ethics violations is still forthcoming.
The ethics charges deal with violations of the public officers law, which prohibits public employees from accepting gifts over $75 from anyone seeking to do business with that entity. Administrators of the quasi-public Nassau Health Care Corporation are bound to the law.
In April, the state Ethics Commission alleged that Turan and six other Nassau Health Care Corporation officers received gifts from several vendors vying for a multi-million dollar information technology contract.
Turan was charged with three infractions, including flying to Kansas City, Mo. at the expense of the Cerner Corporation and receiving an $85 ticket to an Islanders game from Siemens.
Proceedings on the charges began in Albany Oct. 20 and concluded Monday, Dec. 8.
Christine Kopec, the hearing officer who presided over the inquiry, was expected to render her decision about two weeks after the proceedings concluded. The commission, however, does not disclose the hearing officer's finding, according to Walter Ayres, spokesman for the state Ethics Commission.
Once the hearing officer renders her decision, Turan's attorneys and the commission's attorneys will have 10 business days to respond, Ayres said.
Kopec's decision and those responses are then brought before the entire state Ethics Commission, which ultimately decides the proper course of action. There is no timetable on when the commission will render its decision, which will be made public, Ayres said.
For each gift received over $75, Turan faces a fine of up to $10,000.
Turan can appeal the decision by taking the state Ethics Commission to court.
