File Photo
Chang worked part-time for the FDNY from June 2010 through Dec. 16, 2016.
By Forum Staff
A medical doctor employed by the City Fire Department has been charged with engaging in a scheme to steal wages in connection with his position at the agency’s World Trade Center Monitoring clinics in Bayside and Orange County, according to authorities.
According to a complaint unsealed last week in Brooklyn federal court, Dr. Michael Poyin Chang was a part-time employee of the FDNY who worked from June 2010 through Dec. 16, 2016. His duties included performing physical exams of active FDNY members and retirees, as well as follow-up treatments including the prescribing of medication to patients. Chang, 59, was paid based on the entries he made reporting his work hours in the CityTime electronic database, federal officials noted. However, Chang allegedly falsely represented that he had worked 81 days between January 2011 and October 2016, when he was scheduled to be on vacation and the World Trade Center Orange County Annex was closed. Chang’s travel records show that he was travelling outside the country on at least 34 of those 81 days.
The doctor reported via CityTime that he had worked an additional 220 days when his prearranged work schedules maintained by the FDNY Deputy Chief Medical Officer showed that he was neither scheduled to work nor see patients. In total, Chang received $156,757 for work he allegedly did not perform.
Prosecutors noted that the World Trade Center Monitoring Clinic and its annexes were partially funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in each of the years that Chang was employed by the department.
“Physicians take an oath to do no harm, but this Fire Department physician violated that code by collecting more than $150,000 in public funds for nearly a year’s worth of work he didn’t perform, according to the charges,” said City Department of Investigation Commissioner Mark Peters. “Instead of providing care to FDNY first responders involved in World Trade Center rescue and recovery efforts, this defendant allegedly manipulated City timekeeping records, including taking undocumented vacation days.”
If convicted, Chang, who resides in New Jersey, faces up to 10 years in prison.
