Today’s post was shared by Gelman on Workplace Injuries in New Jersey and comes from www.app.com. As 2013 winds down, here is yet another blog post to show that fraud doesn’t only occur on the workers’ side. It looks like this business owner did not disclose all he needed to when it came to getting insurance coverage. Because he also had a government contract, he was charged with additional crimes in New Jersey. As I and other colleagues have written about numerous times, when employers cheat the system, the costs get passed on to someone, and that someone is usually the taxpayer who often pays for injured workers’ costs when there are problems with employers’ workers’ compensation coverage, or there is no coverage at all. “This defendant had a legal responsibility to provide adequate and lawful workers’ compensation coverage for employees,” Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman said in a release, in the story. “By providing misinformation to his workers’ compensation carrier, he not only failed in this responsibility but also defrauded an insurance company out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The cost of such fraud is passed on to consumers through increased premiums.” I hope all have a safer workplace with appropriate workers’ compensation coverage in 2014.
TRENTON — Charles Kelcy Pegler Sr., 55, of Spring Lake, has been indicted for stealing more than $265,000 by providing false and misleading information to the workers compensation insurance carrier for his roofing company. Pegler was charged Thursday with second-degree theft by deception, second-degree false contract payment claim for a government contract, third-degree insurance fraud and fourth-degree false swearing, the state Attorney Generals Office announced. Pegler is the president of Roof Diagnostics Inc. located at 2333 Route 34 in Wall. During the time described by the indictment, the company was at 608 Brighton Ave. in Spring Lake Heights. The indictment alleges that between June 6, 2002 and Oct. 5, 2009, Pegler stole $265,044 from New Jersey Casualty Insurance Co. by creating the false impression that Roof Diagnostics was not a roofing company, that it did not employ roofers and that it did not install, maintain or repair roofs. That meant he paid far less in insurance premiums than he should have, according to state investigators. This defendant had a legal responsibility to provide adequate and lawful workers compensation coverage for employees, Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman said in a release. By providing misinformation to his workers compensation carrier, he not only failed in this responsibility but also defrauded an insurance company out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The cost of such fraud is passed… |