These types of claims are actually very few and far between, but they taint the entire pool. I handle workers’ comp for my company and have become very jaded because of a few bad apples trying to take advantage of the system.
I hope they throw the book at this guy and keep going after people defrauding the system.
As an agent, I cannot agree with you more strongly!
I have a warehouse client who, last year prior to taking them as a new client, had an employee who was injured file for and be awarded permanent total disability from their previous W/C provider (a trucking W/C provider in the upper midwest).
5 months past and the guy shows up in their warehouse, working for another trucker picking up a load for his new employer.
Several employee’s of my client witnessed this man doing the same job he had been doing prior to his disability settlement; each signed their own letters which were notarized and sent to the W/C carrier.
That was 5 months and my client tells me over 20 phone calls ago. I pulled new loss runs for their renewal and his reserve has gone up by another $90,000! Still no response to the letters!
Amazing that carriers are still turning the other cheek on this kind of crap. It costs us all!
Lately we have seen a lot though. I really hope if they are prosecuting this guy that they also go after that Bodybuilder Firefighter as well. He is not only defrauding the system but we Tax payers are footing the bill for it.
It’s not the carriers idiot, it’s the system! Whny should the carriers waste money pursuing something that the system will tke no action on. Or, they will make them settle the claim ou regardless. Actual fraud prosecution for wC fraud is virtually non-existent!
Unfortunately, in Mass, the Insurance Fraud Bureau wants bang for their buck. The DA wants to go after fraud rings, not individuals, so an individual comp claim, unless it’s something like the weighlifting firefighter from Boston, who recently made the news, rarely get attention, and even more rarely are they prosecuted.
It’s frustrating.
I agree…I think a message needs to be sent.
These types of claims are actually very few and far between, but they taint the entire pool. I handle workers’ comp for my company and have become very jaded because of a few bad apples trying to take advantage of the system.
I hope they throw the book at this guy and keep going after people defrauding the system.
As an agent, I cannot agree with you more strongly!
I have a warehouse client who, last year prior to taking them as a new client, had an employee who was injured file for and be awarded permanent total disability from their previous W/C provider (a trucking W/C provider in the upper midwest).
5 months past and the guy shows up in their warehouse, working for another trucker picking up a load for his new employer.
Several employee’s of my client witnessed this man doing the same job he had been doing prior to his disability settlement; each signed their own letters which were notarized and sent to the W/C carrier.
That was 5 months and my client tells me over 20 phone calls ago. I pulled new loss runs for their renewal and his reserve has gone up by another $90,000! Still no response to the letters!
Amazing that carriers are still turning the other cheek on this kind of crap. It costs us all!
Lately we have seen a lot though. I really hope if they are prosecuting this guy that they also go after that Bodybuilder Firefighter as well. He is not only defrauding the system but we Tax payers are footing the bill for it.
It’s not the carriers idiot, it’s the system! Whny should the carriers waste money pursuing something that the system will tke no action on. Or, they will make them settle the claim ou regardless. Actual fraud prosecution for wC fraud is virtually non-existent!
Unfortunately, in Mass, the Insurance Fraud Bureau wants bang for their buck. The DA wants to go after fraud rings, not individuals, so an individual comp claim, unless it’s something like the weighlifting firefighter from Boston, who recently made the news, rarely get attention, and even more rarely are they prosecuted.
It’s frustrating.
I agree…I think a message needs to be sent.