While Ald. Edward M. Burke ran City Hall’s program to compensate injured workers, there was little, if any, effort to “detect potential fraud, waste and abuse,” according to an audit issued Friday months after Burke lost control of the program following his arrest for attempted extortion in an unrelated case.
For decades, Burke has overseen the $100 million-a year workers’ compensation program, refusing to allow city agencies to monitor the expenses, and even hiring private law firms to fight Inspector General Joseph Ferguson’s efforts to examine the system, in which some city workers have been receiving disability payments for years.