State: Neptune employees have no workers’ comp

July 24--The Idaho Industrial Commission has filed two complaints in 4th District Court alleging that Ryan Neptune failed to obtain workers' compensation insurance for his employees.

Workers' comp assists employees who are injured on the job with medical expenses and lost wages. The Idaho Workers Compensation Act was enacted in 1917, with the State Insurance Fund established the same year to provide insurance for Idaho employers and pay claims.

Employers are required to either obtain compensation insurance from the state or secure a waiver that they have private coverage before hiring any employees. Without workers' compensation insurance, a business owner is personally responsible for covering an injured worker's medical costs, lost wages and any other related expenses.

The Industrial Commission claims Neptune, 39, failed to obtain either public or private coverage before hiring workers for his company, Gateway Parks. Gateway employees worked since Jan. 15 without the proper insurance coverage, the commission said.

Neptune also ignored demands from the commission to obtain the proper insurance, according to the complaints.

Neptune could be found personally liable to pay a $25-per-day penalty for failing to obtain insurance. The commission is seeking $2,875, covering from Jan. 15 to May 9. The penalty could continue to accrue until insurance coverage is obtained.

One of the complaints names Neptune and Gateway Parks. The other one names Neptune and two affiliated companies, Eagle Superparks and Neptune Industries.

No hearings have been scheduled on either complaint.

Gary Shelley, manager of Eagle Island State Park, said Wednesday he had not seen the complaints and did not want to comment on the situation. Neptune operated a snow park at Eagle Island last winter.

Shelley said he would review copies provided by the Statesman and discuss the matter with officials from the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation.

The Industrial Commission last year took legal action against 440 employers statewide who did not provide workers' compensation insurance. The commission filed roughly 340 to 430 such complaints each of the four years before that.

"It's a small-business problem oftentimes," said Boise attorney Dan Luker, speaking generally about such complaints. "You don't see it very often with large companies."

Luker -- an associate with Goicoechea Law Offices, which specializes in workers' comp cases -- said lack of coverage often happens in the construction industry, where many small companies operate as subcontractors on projects.

The civil complaints against Neptune and his companies were filed in June, with court summons served earlier this month, according to online court records.

Monday, Neptune was arrested in connection with an unrelated criminal charge of felony attempted strangulation during an alleged domestic violence incident at his home. He was arraigned that day and posted bond.

In the criminal case, Neptune is scheduled to return to court Aug. 5 for a preliminary hearing before Magistrate John Hawley.

He has not returned calls from the Statesman made Tuesday and Wednesday.

Neptune and Gateway Parks set up a tubing hill and terrain park last winter at Eagle Island. The experimental one-year snow park was built on a grassy slope with man-made snow using water from the park's ponds.

The success of the venture led the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation to sign a 10-year agreement for Gateway Parks to continue to operate the park.

The city of Eagle separately signed a contract with Gateway Parks to develop a facility at the Ada-Eagle Sports Complex Park, located off Horseshoe Bend Road. In April, the city purchased nearly 49 acres of the 267-acre park, including the BMX park and a section of land to be used for the snow park.

No one from the city of Eagle nor the Idaho Parks and Recreation Department have said whether Neptune's troubles could affect their contracts with him.

Neptune was a professional snowboarder before he turned to design. A 1992 graduate of Capital High School, he learned to snowboard on logging roads below Bogus Basin.

He won the 1999 U.S. championship in boardercross, which pits four to six racers against each other on a course.

Gateway Parks has built facilities in Lansing, Mich., and last winter had projects under construction in Colorado, Wisconsin and Illinois.

John Sowell: 377-6423, Twitter: @IDS_Sowell

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