The two most common types of workers compensation fraud schemes involve employers who want to avoid high insurance premiums and employees who fake an injury so they can collect benefits they don’t deserve. A Springfield, Ohio man is the focus of today’s “Fraud of the Day” blog. He committed workers compensation fraud by claiming he was injured, when he was not. (He was actually triple dipping.)
The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) exists to support injured workers as they try to recover from an injury and return to work. It’s not supposed to be used as an additional source of income. (In this case, the Springfield man had two paychecks and a benefits check coming to him.)
The worker who was receiving workers’ compensation benefits from the BWC was not injured. He was able-bodied. (There’s no surprise there.) Investigators not only discovered that the man was working for a pizza shop in London, he was also employed as a machine press operator for another business. (I wonder who tipped off the BWC? Maybe the offender shared TMI with co-workers.)
After pleading guilty to workers compensation fraud, the Springfield, Ohio man was sentenced to 30 months of probation. He must also pay back $13,518 in restitution to the BWC. (Looks like he’s going to have to look for another job to replace those BWC benefits.)
Today’s “Fraud of the Day” is based on an article, “Springfield man convicted of workers’ comp fraud,” published by The Springfield News Sun on July 16, 2019.
A Springfield man has been sentenced to more than two years of probation after pleading guilty to workers’ compensation fraud.
Clark Howard pleaded guilty to a fifth-degree felony count of workers’ compensation fraud after an investigation from the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.
