State racks up multimillion-dollar bills for officials’ legal defense

A Freedom of Information Act request by The New York World yielded startling data -- hundreds of state workers have succeeded in getting their legal bills paid by the state, to the tune of $193 million since 1999, under a little known law giving state employees indemnification for legal penalties and costs connected to civil lawsuits

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City financial counselor for poor came up short on its own worker benefits

The Bloomberg administration established the Office of Financial Empowerment in 2006 to help low-income New Yorkers make the most of their financial resources. Yet an organization the office is about to hire to operate one of five new Financial Empowerment Centers providing counseling to poor people has at least occasionally had trouble fulfilling financial obligations to some of its own employees.

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