Page 16 - New England Condominium January 2020
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16 NEW ENGLAND CONDOMINIUM 
 -JANUARY 2020  
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where the resident base tends to be young  
and internet-savvy; app use in those com- 
munities can be north of 90 percent of the  
building population.  
Kestenbaum says that for residents, the  
learning curve is day-to-day. “It’s a hand- 
holding process, and it develops over  
time.” He cites the example of a resident  
who  in  the  past  would  perhaps  report  a  
leaky faucet to the doorman, expecting  
the doorman to then alert the super, who  
would arrange for a repair. With Building- 
Link or similar software, supported by the  sional  based  in  New  York.  She  lives  in  
training they provide to staff members,  
the doorman might now instead help the  
resident enter that same repair request  
into the online system. Shortly thereafter  
– perhaps even on the way to the subway –  
the resident will receive a text message or  
email confirming the registration of their  
complaint or request, and may even find  
the problem resolved by the time they get  
home. The idea is that these systems are  
so seamless and efficient, the next time a  
resident has a problem and needs to re- 
port it, they’ll go  straight to the platform  
and do it themselves. 
Smoothing the Transition 
Dana Greco is a mental health profes- 
a  co-op  building  in  the  Bronx  and  has  
served on its board. When it comes to  
people’s comfort with and integration of  
web-based technologies, she says that in  
her view, the biggest hurdle is plain old  
garden-variety embarrassment.  
“Many people, particularly seniors,  
didn’t grow up with these types of tech- 
nologies,” she says. “They don’t find  
them easily accessible. Often, they will  
say they need to have their children or  
grandchildren come help them learn how  
to use it – almost to literally ‘decode’ the  
mystery of how to use the technology for  
them. They too easily accept as fact that  
they ‘just can’t do it,’ when what they re- 
ally mean is that they don’t want to do it.  
They play dumb. They panic at the login  
– and god forbid the login doesn’t work  
for whatever reason. If there’s no tech  
help, the game is over.” 
Greco suggests that the best, most ef- 
fective response to this kind of reaction  
is patience, with a big helping of compas- 
sion. One thing co-op and condo com- 
munities can do to help all residents  
– not just the older ones – gain comfort  
and  facility with  new technologies  is  to  
offer some training, with a bit of humor.  
Running a free learning seminar for resi- 
dents born, say, before 1970 to learn how  
to use the new technology not only saves  
face, but can help make people overcome  
their self-doubt and see that what might  
have initially seemed intimidating is ac- 
tually very useful, and ultimately gets the  
job done better and more easily.  
That’s not to say there won’t always be  
Luddites. As Lott says, “There’s always  
going to be that one grumpy resident,”  
but a little understanding, plus good- 
faith efforts on the part of the board,  
management, and technology supplier  
can go a long way in making technologi- 
cal innovation a part of a well-function- 
ing community.    
n 
A J Sidransky is a staff writer/reporter for  
New England Condominium, and a published  
novelist.  
INTRODUCING... 
continued from page 15 
misclassified, the association  may  owe  
considerably more money than it antici- 
pated.” 
According to Gary Daddario, a part- 
ner in the law firm of Marcus, Errico,  
Emmer & Brooks, PC, in Massachusetts  
and New Hampshire,  “I try to have my  
clients avoid most of these issues by  
consistently advising them to avoid hav- 
ing employees and to instead hire third- 
party vendors to perform jobs. As long  
as the association avoids being an ac- 
tual employer, they avoid worker’s com- 
pensation, disability and other types of  
employee-related claims. In addition,  
they avoid the responsibility of manag- 
ing the employer-employee relationship,  
as well as certain tax situations, such as  
payroll taxes. Given the ample amount of  
contractors attempting to gain business  
relationships with condominiums, it is  
not difficult for associations to hire third- 
party vendors.” 
Treese points out that the degree to  
which you’re  responsible  for  someone  
working on the association’s behalf all  
comes back to a simple definition of ‘em- 
ployee’ as “someone under the employ- 
er’s direction or control.” So if you have  
a roofer working on site, and you’re in- 
structing them to work on building 1 at  
X time, and then on building 3 at Y time,  
“You’ve potentially converted a contractor  
to an employee of the association by con- 
trolling the parameters of their work,” he  
explains. “The thing to remember is that  
the judgment call on an injured employee  
is really left to an independent tribunal at  
the state level that makes decisions about  
coverage. So you have to make sure that  
the contractor issues a certificate of lia- 
bility insurance that shows workers’ com- 
pensation, and you’ll have to look at the  
expiration date to make sure that both of  
those things haven’t expired before they  
finish a job.” 
IRL 
Of course, even with all these organi- 
zations, regulations, and protections, in  
real life (IRL) accidents do still happen.  
Sparer says that employees do sometimes  
compromise their own safety by cutting  
corners  when  they  want  to  do  some- 
thing quickly—standing on a nearby  
chair when getting an appropriate ladder  
would be the proper way to reach some- 
thing  high up, for example—but  at  the  
end of the day, when a building violates a  
labor or safety law covering their employ- 
ees, the owner is liable. 
“The owner is responsible, whether it  
is a cooperative, condominium, or rental,”  
says Persanis. “The owner is ultimately  
responsible for what goes on at the build- 
ing. Consequences are usually fines.” 
“If [an injury happens] on the job, if  
the employer has been grossly negligent,  
there could be exposure to litigation and  
things along those lines,” says Sparer. “If  
there’s an OSHA violation in connection  
with it, even if the employer was trying  
to be consistent, there could be penalties  
there.” But Sparer also acknowledges that  
“employers in New York are very sensi- 
tive to the issue [of safety] for a variety  
of reasons—not least of which is avoiding  
injury for their employees.” 
 In the case of a clear-cut violation,  
staff should first notify the building’s  
managing agent of the situation, and let  
them take it from there. The pros stress  
that all violations of any kind should be  
first brought  up  to  the  managing  agent  
so that they may be rectified as quickly  
as possible. If that doesn’t work, then the  
employees should kick it up the chain and  
contact their union representative. For  
violations of labor law and unfair labor  
STAFF SAFETY 
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