BOSTON -- Team 5 Investigates' Kelley Tuthill has learned exclusively that the Massachusetts attorney general's office is reviewing dozens of complaints about Winthrop Printing, a three-generation, family-owned South Boston company that suddenly closed last June and filed for bankruptcy.

Company Accused Of Not Paying For Health Coverage

Team 5 Investigates spoke with many former employees who said they were outraged to learn the company's owners didn't pay health insurance premiums during the last three months the business was open.

David Morgan, a 27-year employee of Winthrop Printing, said owners gave them three days notice. "I was just told that Friday would be my last day."

Andy Murray worked second shift on the presses inside Winthrop Printing for 21 years. "I was five weeks away from retirement," Murray said, when the company closed its doors.

Just days after it closed, Winthrop Printing's 70 employees received a letter from their health insurance company, Harvard Pilgrim, informing them their health insurance had been terminated as of May 4, 2008 due to non-payment.

A spokeswoman for Harvard Pilgrim confirmed to Team 5 Investigates that the owners of Winthrop Printing, cousins John Orrall and Peter Orrall, had not paid health insurance premiums since the end of March.

Several employees showed original pay stubs to Team 5 Investigates, confirming that their bosses had been deducting the employees' contribution toward health care from paychecks until June 28, 2008, the day Winthrop Printing closed. It remains unclear where that money is now.

"They're caught in the middle," said Barbara Anthony, executive director of Healthcare Law Advocates, and former head of the consumer protection unit at the Massachusetts Attorney General's office. "They're totally innocent and they're just caught in the middle here."

Morgan certainly feels stuck. He didn't find out his health insurance had been canceled until after he spent three days at South Shore Hospital for internal bleeding. "I ended up going to the emergency ward," Morgan said. "Right now I owe $17,564.97."

Murray chose to pay his medical premiums for April, May and June a second time, in addition to his former employer's 75 percent share, instead of paying more than $4,000 in medical bills he had accumulated during that time.

Team 5 Investigates tracked down the owners of Winthrop Printing. Neither John Orrall nor Peter Orrall was available when we went to their homes, but after repeated calls, John Orrall told Tuthill "I can't explain anything. It's in litigation."

Their attorney referred Team 5 Investigates to the bankruptcy court records.

"There are laws that are designed to protect employees in these situations. The state should take some action here," said Anthony. "I mean, you can't do that. The money is gone. The insurance is canceled and the employee's left holding the bag. It's just so grossly unfair."

State consumer law requires insurance companies to notify individuals within 60 days when their insurance is terminated. Because of that law, said Harvard Pilgrim spokeswoman Sharon Torgerson, her company paid premiums for Winthrop Printing during the month of April. She lamented the "horrible situation" in which Winthrop Printing's former employees now find themselves, saying this does happen "occasionally."

Bankruptcy records show Harvard Pilgrim is owed $164,507.96. The insurer is one of dozens of creditors holding unsecured priority claims.

Employees told Team 5 Investigates they have been in touch with the U.S. Department of Labor, too, but that agency would neither confirm or deny an investigation to Team 5 Investigates. That, said former employees, leaves them out of work and, perhaps, out of luck.

"This is going to happen. You're going to get more calls," Anthony predicted. "Because in this economy this is exactly what goes on. Something has to be done system wide to protect consumers who fall into this situation."

"It's just so much," said Morgan. "It's just too much to bear. I just want what's fair."