Stericycle will pay a $2 million settlement as part of a New York City Business Integrity Commission audit investigation over customer overbilling complaints. BIC announced the settlement on August 20.
The investigation found that the company “had failed to comply with BIC rules governing contracts,” which resulted in “multiple customers” being overcharged. Those customers have since been reimbursed, and Stericycle has hired a consultant to ensure its contracts comply with BIC standards, the commission said in a news release.
Stericycle has more than 14,000 customers in New York City, including hospitals and medical offices, BIC said. It was not clear how many of those customers were part of the complaint.
The audit covered violations that occurred prior to Stericycle's sale to WM in November, a BIC spokesperson said in an email. The Stericycle sector of the business is now known as WM Healthcare Solutions.
Stericycle described the settlement as “a legacy matter regarding a limited number of customer contracts that unintentionally conflicted with specific BIC regulations.” Corrective actions are ongoing, a spokesperson said.
“We value our relationships with customers and the healthcare community in New York and look forward to continuing to protect public health and the environment,” said Stericycle in an unattributed statement.
WM is also sorting out some general customer onboarding and billing issues that have come up during the ongoing Stericycle integration. That’s partly due to challenges with connecting WM and Stericycle’s systems, CEO Jim Fish said during a Q2 earnings call. The company is making “significant progress” in resolving that, he said.
WM expects the Stericycle segment to net between $80 million to $100 million in targeted synergies in 2025, executives said.
Stericycle resolved another unrelated court settlement earlier this year. In January, it agreed to pay a $9.5 million civil penalty for a series of Resource Conservation and Recovery Act violations related to shipping issues at the company’s former hazardous waste management business between 2014 and 2020. Stericycle operated a nationwide hazardous waste transportation, storage, treatment and disposal business until it sold that segment to Harsco, now known as Enviri, in 2020.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include a statement from Stericycle.
