Portside

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday announced a seven-figure settlement with a Manhattan demolition company, following a sprawling three-year investigation into allegations of workers compensation fraud going back nearly a decade.

Alba Services agreed to pay $1.4 million to nearly 700 workers, many of whom were explicitly instructed by bosses not to file injury claims to the state Workers Compensation Board, investigators and workers said. According to James, the company also instructed workers — non-union and mostly immigrant — to misrepresent to their doctors how and where their workplace injuries occurred. 

In exchange, bosses sometimes offered to pay medical bills under the table, as two former Alba workers told THE CITY in Jan. 2024. The attorney general’s investigation found Alba also retaliated against workers who did file injury claims and failed to address sexual harassment in the workplace.

James was flanked by members of Laborers’ Local 79, whose complaints to her office on behalf of workers in 2022 prompted the investigation, and members of the New York City District Council of Carpenters.

_{Alejo speaks at the office of State Attorney General Letitia James about working for a company accused of breaking workers’ compensation laws, Oct. 21, 2025. Credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY}

Alejo, who like all the workers at the press conference asked that his last name not be published, said the site foreman paid for a cab to the hospital and said the company would pay his medical bills — a maneuver that the AG’s office said helped Alba conceal injuries and block workers’ comp claims. 

“Justice was made here today,” Alejo, now a foreman and member of Local 79, said on Tuesday. “I don’t want anything to do with Alba personally, but to them I would say: You need to respect your workers.”

Another worker, Carlos, had to fight his bosses to pay a $2,000 hospital bill after his left hand was nearly impaled by a rusty nail in 2016. He was instructed not to go to the hospital — though he went on his own two days later when the wound developed an infection — and was not informed he was eligible for workers’ compensation. By the time he spoke to investigators in 2022, he was told he was past the statute of limitations.

_{Construction worker Carlos shows where a nail went through his hand following a press conference at State Attorney General Letitia James Manhattan office about workers’ compensation settlement, Oct. 21, 2025. Credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY}

Andrew Horan, the company’s owner, also offered cash rewards to his foremen through text messages that the AG’s office said unlawfully exposed workers’ names. In all, investigators found at least 60 occasions in which Alba illegally disclosed workers’ names in connection with workers’ comp claims.

Gregory Morvillo, an attorney for Alba Services, provided a statement: “From day one of the investigation, we welcomed the opportunity to address issues of concern to the Attorney General’s Office. After extensive cooperation in the investigation, Alba opted to enter a settlement — in which they do not admit or deny any conduct — on certain business issues rather than litigate the matters because we wanted to focus on continuing to build the company and, as we repeatedly made clear to the OAG, make sure the company stayed in business and all of the laborers kept their jobs.

“Our focus is now, and has always been, protecting the health of our employees and providing the safest possible work environment for everyone in the Alba family.”

Investigators also found that an Alba foreman also retaliated against women who rejected their romantic advances. María, who worked clean-up for the company for six years before leaving this summer, had her hours reduced to only two days a week after she rejected her foreman’s romantic and sexual overtures. He repeatedly propositioned her via text message, she said, and on one occasion massaged her shoulders on the job. 

María’s complaints to human resources went nowhere, she told THE CITY, and the situation nearly tore her family apart. As part of the settlement, Alba agreed to immediately terminate that foreman.

“This situation devastated my children, and my husband and I almost separated,” she said in Spanish. “I’m eager to turn the page, and I’m grateful to the prosecutors, my union, for helping me speak up.”

Alba’s settlement with the attorney general’s office includes some $1.4 million in restitution payments to 675 employees who were injured on the job between 2016 and 2024. The company also agreed to pay $100,000 for an independent settlement administrator and to submit to three years of oversight by the attorney general’s office.

Though the payout each worker will receive depends on their own unique situation — including the nature of their injuries — each worker will receive a minimum of $1,000, the attorney general’s office said. 

It’s not the first time the company has been in the crosshairs of law enforcement. Horan and Alba were among the two dozen defendants accused of a $5 million kickback and bribery scheme by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in 2022. In August 2024, Horan pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and agreed to an integrity monitor over the company for a period of one year.