by David Schek | Aug 18, 2014 | Workers Comp, Workers' Compensation Insurance
To be filed under “now I have heard everything….”
Downey, CA (WorkersCompensation.com) – Aurora Barrera, 33, of Downey, CA was arrested on charges related to her allegedly submitting a fraudulent workers’ compensation claim for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder associated with a robbery, that she actually assisted in staging, at a bank where she worked as an assistant bank manager.
“This conspiracy led to a major law enforcement response, including the bomb squad,” said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. “It’s shocking to think that, Barrera, a trusted financial institution manager would be a co-conspirator in a bank robbery and staged kidnapping, and then have the audacity to file a bogus workers’ comp claim for traumatic stress and believe she could get away with it.”
On the morning of September 4, 2012, Barrera claimed she was held hostage by two men, forced to wear a bomb and told to drive to a Bank of America branch in East Los Angeles where she was employed. Barrera claimed she was given instructions to remove money from the bank vault and place it outside the building, which she did. The bank robbery resulted in a massive response by local, state and federal law enforcement, including the bomb squad who determined the device strapped to Barrera was a fake bomb.
Two days after the robbery, Barrera submitted a workers’ compensation claim for post-traumatic stress disorder. Barrera began receiving medical treatment and collected approximately $2,453 a month in temporary total disability benefits. The total amount of benefits paid out to Barrera totaled $35,573. An additional $9,964 was incurred in medical and other insurance expenses.
An FBI investigation determined that Barrera was a knowing participant in the bank robbery. As a result Barrera was arrested and subsequently convicted for the bank robbery, along with her then boyfriend and two others. Barrera was sentenced on August 6, 2014 in Federal Court to nine years in federal prison and was given until September 8 to surrender.
Since Barrera was involved in the robbery, the workers’ compensation claim was considered to be fraudulent. The subsequent criminal investigation by the Department of Insurance, in cooperation with the FBI, resulted in an arrest warrant for Barrera for charges of insurance fraud, burglary and grand theft. Barrera was arrested without incident at her residence in Downey and booked into the Los Angeles County Jail.
Barrera faces a maximum sentence of five years in state prison.
I had to read this a few times to appreciate the audacity of this workers compensation fraud. I think it takes workers compensation fraud to a new low. I would love to hear about any interesting workers compensation stories you may have. In additional I am always available to discuss your workers compensation rate challenges (as long as they do not involve bank robberies) and offer you a quote for a more competitive program
You can reach me at david@StaffingCompSolutions.com and visit us at www.StaffingCompSolutions.com
All the best
David Schek
President
StaffingCompSolutions.com
American Staffing Association Member
ASA Exhibitor 2014 Conference Booth 1123
California Staffing Association Member
StaffingCompSolutions.com—- Workers Compensation Specialists and Staffing Business Consultants For Over 25 Years.
by David Schek | Aug 12, 2014 | Warehouse Safety, Workers Comp, Workers' Compensation Insurance
OSHA audits can impact your clients at any time. Whether your client is a manufacturing facility, a warehouse, or a food plant, OSHA audits effect all levels of labor and management. Helping your client survive an OSHA audit can be a great way to demonstrate extra value of your service, and build stronger relationships with your client.
If you own a facility that employees many workers, maintaining a positive relationship with OSHA is always in your best economic interest. It can also be a perfect opportunity to identify a premium staffing partner in your market to help you in this area.
Below is an article by Stephanie Casstevens who specializes in OSHA inspections in the medical industry.
Here are 3 easy steps to stay on top of your OSHA Audit.
Step 1: Training is Everything
In a recent interview HIPAA lawyer Scot Granow gave some insight on this. “Training programs are one of the easiest, cost-effective ways to reduce risk, yet I see so many organizations fail to implement them, implement them poorly, or if they do implement them, they do not maintain them and keep them current as part of an ongoing awareness program.”
Scot is right, many companies are simply not properly and fully training their employees. It’s not just about having access to compliance materials. Simply enrolling in a program is not enough. Employees need to keep their certifications up to date, Safety Data Sheets must be in order, and so on. Plus, there are often updates to regulations such as the recent Hazard Communication update or the upcoming ICD-10 transition. Facilities need to be sure they are aware of changes and updates and adjust their staff training accordingly. Periodic inservices to remind employees of regulations are always helpful as well.
Step 2: Have a System in Place
Do you have a plan for making sure each new employee is properly trained when they begin working at your facility? Is there an annual date where you review when everyone’s certifications expire so you can address the next round of training? In addition, ask yourself these questions:
- Do you have a method for getting up to date compliance information?
- Are you subscribed to related blogs or journals?
- Do employees know their roles when it comes to managing compliance at your facility?
- Have you assigned a compliance officer?
- Have you done a mock audit to see if you’re prepared?
Step 3: Prepare for Inspections
So OSHA arrives and decides they’re going to do an inspection. What happens now? It’s important to think about how your facility will respond to an unannounced OSHA inspection. Who should be involved in this process? What will happen? Some advanced planning can make for a much less frantic day.
Do some advanced planning. Just like you have an emergency action plan for a real emergency, it’s good to have an inspection plan as well. Designate someone who will be responsible for greeting the inspector and accompanying them during the inspection. Make sure you have notepads, pens and a camera on hand. This way, staff involved can take notes during the inspection and if an inspector takes photos, staff can do the same.
Have a document controller designated as well. This should be someone who knows where important documents are and has access to them. This person should only provide documents an inspector requests and should be the only person to present these requested materials. Never leave these documents in plain sight or in a place easily accessible by the wrong hands. Once documents are no longer in use they should be documented and put away in the proper place right away.
Train your staff to act appropriately during an inspection. Make sure they know to answer questions truthfully and specifically to the question that was asked. Encourage them to avoid speculating and if they are unsure to say they will find out. Remind them to be courteous and professional.
Remember OSHA visits are getting more frequent. One of the things OSHA visits can do is alert you to potential workers compensation risks and challenges that may effect your work comp rates. Please feel free to contact me if you would like talk about your workers compensation rates and discuss more cost effective workers compensation programs. You can reach me at david@StaffingCompSolutions.com or www.leatstsaff.com
All the best
David Schek
President
StaffingCompSolutions.com
American Staffing Association Member
ASA Exhibitor 2014 Conference Booth 1123
California Staffing Association Member
StaffingCompSolutions.com—- Workers Compensation Specialists and Staffing Business Consultants For Over 25 Years.
by David Schek | Aug 6, 2014 | Workers Comp, Workers' Compensation Insurance
Below is both a sad and funny history of work comp fraud in New York, written by a leading New York workers compensation attorney named Theodore Ronca.
While I am sure other states may have a similar work comp history, New York seems to have a particularly steep and fascinating tradition in this area. This “party” has included claimants, insurance companies and lawyers for both sides. Almost everyone has been to this workers compensation party at some time in New York..
NY Workers Comp Fraud: Began during Prohibition
NY comp fraud quickly earned an honorable place in the decade following WWI. A host of small, even tiny, comp carriers were created to launder money from Prohibition bootleg operations. One such operation consisted of three people: the owner, a clerk and an alcoholic hearing rep who was required to leave the suit the company purchased for him in the office at night. Another obscure carrier employed for a short time the father of a future first lady.
Vying with the bootleg carriers were employers who routinely reported arm and leg injuries as finger and toe problems. After a short, trusting initial period following passage of the law, a commission report disclosed the severe rate of under reporting, leading to a reform which required all claims to be scheduled for at least one face to face hearing.
NY Work Comp Fraud: Pour Whiskey on Injured Worker and Fire Him For Drunkenness
Sadly, some of the more exciting stories of NY comp fraud have proven to be urban legends, as if the system needed any additional assists. One tale was that if an accident occurred on a construction site the foreman would pour a small quantity of cheap whiskey on the unfortunate and fire him for drunkenness. But reading cases from the period shows that nearly everyone was winning all the time. Hardly surprising for a law which at the time only covered the most dangerous jobs and did not yet cover occupational diseases. Oh, yes. Alcoholic consumption leading to injury was not compensable, but the defense never succeeded.
NY Workers Comp Fraud: Late Filed Claims
Another attorneys’ room legend involved establishing a late filed claim. The defense had to be raised at the first hearing in which the claimant testified. So, the story goes, a lawyer would find every excuse to get an adjournment until there appeared a defense hearing person who forgot to raise the objection. Then the claimant would quickly be sworn in, asked a few questions and then excused. The legend fell apart when case law from early on held that the objection could be raised once and remain good for later hearings.
NY Work Comp Fraud: Doctors
Then there was the IME doctor for a major carrier who, in spite of his affiliation with Massachusetts General Hospital, produced dreadful exam reports. An FBI investigation of other matters uncovered that although his name was the same as a Mass Gen surgeon, his fingerprints were different – and, no, he didn’t have an MD.
Speaking of doctors, there was one eternally optimistic claimants’ physician who treated both the dead and the incarcerated three times a week, dutifully filing progress reports with the carriers. Confronted, he said it must have been a clerical error.
NY Work Comp Fraud: Lawyers
And we should give an honorable mention to the dozen comp lawyers who, in the 1960’s, purchased a substantial share of stock in the new Madison Square Garden. They were told they were purchasing the shares, at a bargain price, from Aristotle Onassis and the transaction had to be in cash. The reader needn’t be told how that story ended.
So, to the other 49 states, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do.
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If you have a great workers compensation fraud story I would love to hear about it. I would also be glad to offer you a workers compensation quote that may lower your rates, especially if you have high rates having been the victim of workers compensation fraud. You can reach me at david@StaffingCompSolutions.com and visit us at www.StaffingCompSolutions.com
All the best
David Schek
President
StaffingCompSolutions.com
American Staffing Association Member
ASA Exhibitor 2014 Conference Booth 1123
California Staffing Association Member
StaffingCompSolutions.com—- Workers Compensation Specialists and Staffing Business Consultants For Over 25 Years.
by David Schek | Jul 28, 2014 | Tips, Warehouse Safety, Workers Comp, Workers' Compensation Insurance
Having a successful safety policy for your high turnover hourly workers is only as good as your ability to successfully communicate your policy to these workers. These hourly workers often make up the line staff in many manufacturing and warehouse facilities as well as in temporary staffing companies that service these companies. Communicating these important safety policies is often easier said than done. These folks can be like moving targets when it comes to communicating and implementing company policies.
Below is an excellent article by Rebecca Schafer which discusses this vexing problem and offer concrete solutions. Ms. Schafer is President of Amaxx Risk Solutions, which is a national expert in the field of workers compensation:
“Having a great workers’ comp program is meaningless if your employees don’t know about it and use it. To get your employees to know about the program, you have to tell them about it, not just once. After initially delivering the information about your workers’ comp program, you need to reinforce and remind them of its importance. And it is not enough that the employees know about it, they have to be willing and able to use the program you have in place. All necessary information must be readily and easily accessible to all your employees and so familiar to them that they instantly know where to find all necessary information.
Make the Message Fit the Environment
Design your workers’ comp materials to fit the environment. A printed brochure may work for clerical employees who work at a desk and can put them in a file folder. But will a brochure work for a factory floor worker without file space? Probably not. A brochure handed to that worker will likely end up in the round filing cabinet, i.e. a waste receptacle after being piled somewhere with other papers.
Think about where your employees work, take breaks, gather and socialize when thinking about how and where to communicate your workers’ comp messages. The delivery of information must take into consideration the location where the communication is occurring. An auto visor packet might be good in a company vehicle. Wallet cards might be good for employees who go into the field. Signs near water coolers and restrooms are good reinforces. Lamination of the materials is important where there is the potential for dirt or moisture in an environment that can ruin plain paper.
Combine Methods to Maximize Impact
Think about how you want to deliver your message. Using a combination of methods may be the best way to continually drive home your messages. For example, you may want to hand out or mail brochures to new employees with an annual update. Then you can also put up posters throughout the work area and in break rooms, give employees wallet or lanyard cards, and put a zippered three-ring mobile folder in all vehicles and toolboxes.
Another constant reminder is a sticker label to be put on telephones. This way the name and numbers of who to call when there is an injury or a claim is called in are immediately accessible to those making the calls.
Tailor the Message to the Audience
Think about your audience when designing your message materials. Do you have non-English speaking workers? Then your materials should also be translated into their first language. Are your employees eighth grade or college graduates? Make sure that your messages are clearly communicated in the simplest language possible. Don’t use several ten-dollar words where one ten-cent one will work. Your materials for your supervisors and upper management can be more in depth than is needed for your line workers. Also, the materials in your employee handbooks and safety plans can have much more detail than is needed in your program posters and wallet cards.
Make the Messages Easy to Read
Are your materials well lit and in big and dark enough font to be easily readable? As any middle aged worker in desperate need of reading glasses will tell you, they cannot see the same font size in a lighter color or that is against a non-contrasting background. Test their readability before their final printing. A clearly worded message won’t be read by employees who can’t easily see it.
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Please feel free to contact me about your workers compensation safety challenges to discuss solutions that fit your unique work environment. Also lets talk about a your workers compensation insurance program and determine if there are lower cost options for you in the market.
You can reach me at david@StaffingCompSolutions.com and visit us at www.StaffingCompSolutions.com
All the best
David Schek
President
StaffingCompSolutions.com
American Staffing Association Member
ASA Exhibitor 2014 Conference Booth 1123
California Staffing Association Member
StaffingCompSolutions.com—- Workers Compensation Specialists and Staffing Business Consultants For Over 25 Years.
by David Schek | Jul 23, 2014 | Workers Comp, Workers' Compensation Insurance
Here is some guidance that will help you determine the answer to this very important question:
1. Right to Control – The degree of direction and control a person or organization exercises over someone they contract with to perform a task is always a central issue in determining an employer-employee relationship. A person or organization controlling the manner in which the work is to be performed indicates that the task is being performed by an employee. If the person doing the labor controls the time and manner in which the work is to be done this may indicate that the task is being done by an independent contractor. If an individual is truly independent, the individual generally works under his/her own operating permit, contract or authority.
2. Character of Work Is the Same as Employer – Work being done that is consistent with the primary work performed by the hiring business indicates that the labor is being done by an employee. Work done by a person that is different than the primary work of the hiring business may indicate the task is being performed by an independent contractor. (For example, someone installing shingles for a roofer is generally considered the employee of that roofer. Conversely, a plumber hired on a one time basis to fix a broken pipe for a retail store owner is generally considered an independent contractor,)
3. Method of Payment– Employees tend to be paid wages on an hourly, daily. weekly, or monthly basis. Naturally, employment is indicated if the hiring business withholds taxes and/or provides other employee benefits (Unemployment Insurance, health insurance, pensions, FICA, etc.) Whether the labor is paid using a W2 or 1099 Form for tax purposes does not matter in determining an employer/employee relationship for workers’ compensation purposes. A business paying cash to an individual for services usually indicates that the individual is an employee. Payment made for performance of the task as a whole may indicate the task is being done by an independent contractor.
4. Furnishing Equipment/Materials – A business providing the equipment and/or materials used by people in performing the work tends to indicate an employer-employee relationship.
5. Right to Hire/Fire – A business retaining the authority to hire and fire the individuals performing the work indicates an employee is performing the work. An independent contractor retains a degree of control over the time when the work is to be accomplished and is not subject to be discharged by the hiring entity because of the method he chooses to use in performing the work. Naturally, an independent contractor’s services may be terminated if the services rendered do not meet contractual requirements,)
All factors may be considered and no one factor alone determines whether a person will be considered an employee under the Workers Compensation Laws. A workers’ compensation law judge determines whether a person is considered an employee at a hearing following a work related accident or illness.
Please let me know if you have any questions regarding these rules about workers compensation. When I owned my staffing firm for 16 years, I always wanted to sleep better at night so I erred on treating all workers as W-2’s and securing workers compensation insurance for them.
Finally, feel free to contact me for a FREE quote for workers compensation at david@StaffingCompSolutions.com and visit us at www.StaffingCompSolutions.com
All the best
David Schek
President
StaffingCompSolutions.com
American Staffing Association Member
ASA Exhibitor 2014 Conference Booth 1123
California Staffing Association Member
StaffingCompSolutions.com—- Workers Compensation Specialists and Staffing Business Consultants For Over 25 Years.
