Audit: N.J. Workers Comp Board Head Spent $55K on Travel, Candy

October 23, 2008

Auditors say the head of New Jersey’s Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau charged $55,000 on a state credit card for travel, meals and chocolates over 21 months.

The audit is the first for the agency that helps set the cost of workers compensation policies in its 91-year history.

Executive director Grover Czech says all the expenses were legitimate. Czech also says chocolates, lollipops and Halloween candy were for employee appreciation and morale.

Czech says he reimbursed the agency for airline tickets and a laptop computer that he purchased with the bureau’s credit card.

Czech earns about $200,000 a year.

The agency has a budget of about $12 million a year. The money is raised through a surcharge on workers comp insurance that every business owner is required to purchase.

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Information from: The Star-Ledger