Category Archives: Misclassification

Employee Workers’ Compensation Fraud? No – Employer Fraud Rampant.

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Attorney Leonard Jernigan compiled a list of the biggest workers’ compensation frauds

Today’s post comes from guest author Thomas Domer, from The Domer Law Firm.

My friend and colleague Len Jernigan has again compiled the Top 10 Workers’ Compensation Fraud Cases for 2017.

 His results emphasize a theme that has been present for the last dozen years during which he has been compiling a “Top 10” list.  This year the Top 10 non-employee fraud cases resulted in fraud totaling just under $700 million.  Employee fraud cases resulted in zero fraud.  Seven of the Top 10 cases were from California, two from Texas, and one from Tennessee.

The cases involve health care fraud, where doctors prescribed inappropriate medications to pharmacies they operated, overbilling schemes for durable medical equipment, mail fraud, kickback schemes, referral of patients for unnecessary care, and prescribing unnecessary treatment.

A recurring theme, falsifying documents and under-reporting payroll to workers’ compensation insurance companies also appeared in the Top 10.  In one notorious case, the owners of a hotel hid the existence of 800 housekeeping and janitorial workers to avoid paying workers’ compensation insurance rates and payroll taxes.  The list also contains references to dishonest employers misclassifying more and more workers as independent contractors.  This misclassification is a fraud that wrongfully denies these employees workers’ compensation when injured, denies the government millions of dollars in payroll taxes to support Medicare, Social Security, Unemployment Compensation, and the fundamental rights of the workers.  Simply put, this misclassification is another employers shift the cost of accident and injury to the taxpayers and the fraud continues.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in Misclassification, Workers' Compensation, Workplace Injury and tagged , , , .

Is The NEW GIG A New Bargain For Workers?

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Lost among the din of Twitter feuds and even more serious reporting on tax reform, is attention to a tax bill about gig economy workers that could impact more than just tax policy.

The New Economy Works to Guarantee Independence and Growth Act (NEW GIG Act) essentially allows firms such as Uber to withhold income taxes for workers without that withholding being construed as evidence of an employee-employer relationship. Boston College of Law Professors Shu Yi Oei and Diane Ring perceptively point out that the NEW GIG Act will help define how gig economy workers are classified for purposes of laws that cover employees like anti-discrimination laws, unemployment insurance, wage and hour laws and possibly workers compensation laws. Their argument is that NEW GIG allows companies like Uber to define their workers as contractors within the tax code and that helps creates a presumption of independent contractor status.

Though NEW GIG creates a safe harbor for gig economy companies that collect income taxes, NEW GIG does not abolish the common law test that distinguishes an employee from an independent contractor. The common law test rests on an employer having control over the method and means of work. But the tax code is a critical piece to classification of workers. True contractors are able to deduct their expenses from their taxes because legally they are running a business. Courts hold that when a driver or any other worker is essentially running their own business, they are an independent contractor. NEW GIG uses the tax code to encourage workers to take deductions for expenses and hence self-classify as contractors rather than employees.

Federal employment laws like the Fair Labor Standards Act depend on the so-called common law test distinguishing between contractors and employees. State wage and hour laws, fair employment laws and workers compensation laws may not always rely on those definitions. In cases where a state doesn’t use a common law test to distinguish between employees and contractors, the question would be whether NEW GIG would pre-empt those state lawsNEW GIG does not appear to have an express preemption clause, so courts could tend to uphold state employment laws that would conflict with NEW GIG. Lack of express pre-emption language in NEW GIG may also mean that courts wouldn’t pre-empt state employment laws that rely on the common law test distinguishing contractors from employees. If courts read NEW GIG as just a way for gig economy companies to collect income tax from their workers without creating an employee-employer relationship, then its impact could be muted on state laws and possibly on federal laws.

NEW GIG is sponsored in the Senate by John Thune (R.-South Dakota). Thune has recently criticized Uber for customer data breaches and sexual harassment allegations within the company. Those concerns have been echoed by Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia) who is a leading proponent of the gig economy. (11) The fact that supporters of the gig economy appear to be questioning the practices of Uber could show the gig economy companies may not have an easy time in fundamentally altering the relationship between companies and their workers.

But Uber is not the only gig economy company and public statements by our elected officials don’t always match up with their actions. Even if NEW GIG is just a tax bill there is power in the perceptions and presumptions that would be created if NEW GIG were passed. Advocates for employee rights would be well advised to keep a close watch over the NEW GIG bills in the House and Senate.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in employment law, Government, Legislation, Misclassification and tagged , , , , , , .

Amazon, Walmart and the “Shameless” Economy

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With holiday shopping in full swing, Gizmodo just ran a long article about how Amazon is using an Uber-like app to hire delivery drivers as independent contractors.

Back in June, I blogged about a Walmart program where Walmart employees were being used to deliver packages. I pointed out in the piece that at least Walmart delivery drivers would be treated as employees in contrast to Fed Ex drivers and now Amazon drivers who have no employment protections like workers compensation or unemployment insurance if they get hurt on the job.

On social media, I’ve pointed out that Walmart actually seems to be better on employee classification than Amazon. That’s a pretty startling admission from me as Walmart has long been a target of criticism for their employment practices from our firm and any other sentient employee rights advocate with a platform.

When I read the Gizmodo article about Amazon, I thought about an episode of Shameless where the ever enterprising Lip underbids illegal aliens on a construction job with a group of rich kids looking to do volunteer work to bolster their college resumes. Up until now, Walmart has been a leader in the low wage economy. But leave it to Amazon to underbid Walmart in the race to the bottom.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in employment law, Misclassification, Workers' Compensation and tagged , , , , .

Failure to Provide Workers’ Compensation for Employees is a Crime

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I saw a recent newspaper story from New Jersey telling an employer was found guilty of a crime for failing to provide workers compensation benefits for the employees of his tree trimming service.

I can’t recall the last time I read of such a conviction, although virtually every state makes failing to provide workers compensation a crime and wide spread employer evasion by labeling workers as independent contractor rather than employees. Recent studies find misclassification to occur a 30% rate. The costs of misclassification are in the hundreds of billions with workers being denied treatment and income replacement, government losing withholding taxes, unemployment benefit taxes and lawful employers paying higher insurance premiums for workers compensation and healthcare to name a few costs.

I run into these scoff law employers all too frequently. If more prosecutors treated them as the criminals, they are perhaps more working people would be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in Misclassification, Workers' Compensation, Workplace Injury and tagged .

Tax Day For Independent Contractors: More Paperwork, More Taxes

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The issue of whether Uber drivers and other so-called “Gig Economy” workers are employees or independent contractors is a hot topic among lawyers and policy makers. But last week independent contractors in the Gig Economy and beyond had a more mundane but no less serious dilemma:

Filing their taxes

Independent contractors are required to pay their full FICA and Medicare taxes. These higher taxes can be offset by more liberal deductions but that assumes a contractor has more expenses to deduct.

Deductions also require paperwork.  Filing your taxes as an IRS Form 1099 independent contractor is more complicated than filing your taxes as an IRS W-2 employee.

Independent contractor status can be helpful for someone who wants to be an entrepreneur. But for those who just want to support themselves and family, involuntary independent contractor status can mean higher taxes, more paperwork and more risk of trouble with the IRS and state revenue agencies.  Future tax days could be even more stressful if more workers are forced into independent contractor status in order to support themselves and families.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in employment law, Government, Misclassification and tagged , , , , , .

Can Ride-Hailing Be Done Right in Rural America?

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Lincoln-based startup Liberty has announced that it has partnered with Panhandle Trails in rural western Nebraska for a ride-hailing app similar to Uber or Lyft to supplement public transportation options. This could be a positive development for injured workers in rural areas, as long as Liberty protects the rights of its potential drivers.

It is fairly well known that disability rates are higher in the rural United States than in urban areas. This is often attributed to physical nature of rural jobs and the older rural population. However, transportation costs are another factor in these higher rates of disability. The cost of transportation from a relatively isolated rural area can be too high to justify taking a job. This concern is frequently an issue in workers’ compensation litigation in Nebraska. If Liberty can make it easier for injured rural residents to find employment, I wish for its success.

But the problem with ride-hailing apps is that companies want to deem their drivers to be independent contractors rather than employees. Driving jobs are relatively dangerous, and the costs of those work injuries will be shifted onto taxpayers and the drivers rather than workers’ compensation. However, innovation need not mean that workers go without the protections of workers’ compensation. Debbie Berkowitz with the National Employment Law Project points to the example of the Black Car Fund where Uber drivers in New York have created a workers’ compensation plan.

Liberty states that they want to comply with their legal obligations, which is encouraging. But when Uber CEO, Travis Kalanick, calls Uber drivers the “other dude in the car” and wants to have driverless cars so he can get rid of Uber drivers altogether, workers and their lawyers have good reason to be skeptical of the sharing economy. That’s part of the reason that advocates for employees are fighting legislative efforts to broadly exempt sharing-economy employees from workers’ compensation and fair-employment laws. Other advantages of having drivers classified as employees means that states will not miss out on tax revenue. Holding the status of an independent contractor also increases paperwork and the risks of not complying with tax laws for a driver.

Aside from the issues related to workplace law, I would hope that expanding ride-hailing apps to rural America won’t be used as an excuse to stop funding rural public transportation. But overall, ride-hailing will be a net positive for rural areas, as long as it is done in a way that protects the rights of drivers.

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in Misclassification, Sharing Economy and tagged , , , , , .

Employer Fraud in Workers’ Compensation

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It is not workers who cost the workers’ compensation system the most when it comes to fraud. Until that myth stops being perpetuated, this blog will continue to feature posts that bring people to task for fraud against workers and workers’ compensation in various states.

Today’s post comes from guest author Thomas Domer, a respected advocate for workers, from The Domer Law Firm in Milwaukee. He writes commentary on Professor Leonard Jernigan’s list of 2015 Top Ten Workers’ Compensation Fraud Cases, an excellent article that was also featured in this blog.

I will continue to reinforce that although some in the workers’ compensation industry want people to believe that individual employees are the biggest (and most expensive) perpetuators of fraud, that is just not the case. State legislatures choosing to take away workers’ compensation benefits from injured workers and their loved ones because of “worker fraud” is just inaccurate and false. This is an important and helpful quote from Mr. Domer, with whom I agree.

“The workers’ compensation insurance industry has done a marvelous job in diverting attention from the real culprits (employers, medical providers, and insurers) to the very rare, but sometimes spectacular claims involving employee fraud.”

Compilations like the yearly one that Professor Jernigan completes will continue to set the record straight.

Legislatures around the country (including ours in Wisconsin) seem to be preoccupied with employee fraud in workers’ compensation, despite overwhelming evidence that employee fraud is virtually nonexistent. 

Employer fraud, however, continues to plague the industry.  Over the last decade, my friend and colleague Len Jernigan has published a Top 10 Workers’ Comp Fraud Claims.  The list from 2015 can be found at this link.

None of the Top Ten includes only an injured worker.  The top six of the Top Ten stem from California claims.  Others are from New York, Washington, Utah, and Massachusetts. 

This year’s dollar amounts were particularly substantial, with nearly $850 million in total frauds, the largest being a $580 million kickback scheme out of California.  The California kickback scheme involved surgeons and the owner of a hospital.  The other California claims included FedEx mislabeling their drivers as Independent Contractors in order to avoid insurance, and the owners of a translation service fraudulently billing the workers’ compensation system.  Additional mislabeling involved California truck drivers from Pacer Cartage, which owed over $2 million to seven truckers, due to unlawful payroll deductions and misclassifications as Independent Contractors.

The single case involving a worker is a professional football player from the New York Giants who colluded with a claims adjuster, providing fictitious invoices and statements for more than $1.5 million.  The New York, Washington, and Utah claims also involved misclassification in which no workers’ compensation insurance was paid for actual employees.

Another popular theme is the under-reporting of earners in order to be granted lower insurance premiums.  That scheme was uncovered in Massachusetts, avoiding more than a half million dollars in insurance premiums.

The workers’ compensation insurance industry has done a marvelous job in diverting attention from the real culprits (employers, medical providers, and insurers) to the very rare, but sometimes spectacular claims involving employee fraud.  (A worker claiming permanent and total disability climbing around on rocks is far sexier than a financial officer mischaracterizing his employees in a closed office.)

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in doctors, Employee Misclassification, employer fraud, Fraud, Misclassification, Wage Theft and tagged , , .

2015 Top Ten Workers’ Compensation Fraud Cases

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Leonard Jernigan

Professor Leonard Jernigan

In what has become a yearly tradition, here are the 2015 top 10 workers’ compensation fraud cases, provided by guest author and respected colleague Professor Leonard Jernigan, from The Jernigan Law Firm in North Carolina.

At the time of year when many state legislative bodies are pushing forward in their work representing citizens and talk of “workers’ compensation reform” continues, this blog post focuses on one of the many misconceptions in workers’ compensation. This misconception is that fraud is rampant, and somehow workers plan to hurt themselves or are intentional about it because they’re “in it for the money,” which seems to actually be fairly rare.

This also appears to have been an exceptional year for fraud, with the total in the blog post compiled as $849,500,000. Yes, that’s almost $850 million in workers’ compensation fraud, all of which was found in only five states, with California coming in first with six instances of fraud.

As you can see by both the quantity and dollar value, of his top 10 fraud cases, non-employee cases are dominant over worker fraud, and the dollar cost is quite large for the nine non-employee cases. In the seven years total that Professor Jernigan has compiled the lists, the larger economic fraud of non-workers involved in the workers’ compensation system is dominant in a 67-3 margin.

Based on this information, I would strongly encourage those who are pushing “reform” of the system to avoid limiting treatment access to workers and instead focus on cleaning up the other players, as a start.

Each of the examples affected real people and their loved ones. Fraud against workers tends to be on a much grander scale, and though it has been mentioned in previous blog posts, it is worth saying again that it’s the workers and taxpayers who are on the hook when it comes to situations that include overbilling, workers’ compensation scams, and employers not carrying workers’ compensation insurance. It can be tragic to workers and their loved ones if an employee gets hurt and the employer was cutting costs by not carrying workers’ compensation insurance. Without this safety net, when injured, workers often default to their personal health insurance (if they have any) or rely on the taxpayer-funded safety net, which shifts the cost burden from the businesses involved to the greater society of responsible taxpayers.

Legitimate business owners who pay for workers’ compensation, as required by law, are at a competitive disadvantage with those who cheat the system, and when people suffer a workplace disability and have no insurance local businesses that provide goods and services feel the pain along with health care providers who cannot get properly paid for their services. The cost of medical care and disability ends up being shifted to the taxpayer through Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and in states where compliance is not vigorously enforced or business are allowed to opt out of the workers’ compensation system, a culture of cheating and/or lack of transparency continues.

It is unfortunate that this article is necessary, but I appreciate the important work Mr. Jernigan does to compile these fraud cases each year. It makes for very interesting reading and reminds folks that fraud occurs on both sides of the workers’ compensation debate, though not nearly as much by workers’ as people think.

Here are the links to previous years’ posts, which were published in 2015, 2014, and 2013, so they include cases that were compiled regarding 2014, 2013, and 2012, with the post below being 2015’s edition.

I hope that you have a safe and productive 2016.

Number Value
Non-Employee Fraud Cases 9 $ 848,000,000
Employee Fraud Cases 1 $ 1,500,000
Total $ 849,500,000

The top six of our top ten fraud cases of 2015 are from California, a perennial offender. The other four cases are from New York, Washington, Utah, and Massachusetts. As we continue to discover each year, non-employee fraud cases dominated the list. This year’s dollar amounts were particularly large, with nearly $850 million in total frauds. The largest fraud was a $580 million kickback scheme out of southern California. Authorities have begun to enforce the law against companies who have misclassified their workers and we expect to see a continued increase in these enforcement actions, both against our traditional offenders and against some of the sharing economy companies who are now the subject of multiple lawsuits.

1. (California) Surgeons and Owner of Hospital Charged In $580M Kickback Scheme (11/26/15)

(Credit: MoneyTimes) The kickbacks involving millions of dollars are increasing the insurance costs for patients.Such practice corrupts the relationship between doctor and patient, thus polluting medical profession.

(Credit: MoneyTimes) Kickbacks involving millions of dollars are increasing insurance costs for patients.

Five people have been criminally charged for their involvement in a medical kickback scheme that defrauded the California workers’ compensation system and insurance companies of $580 million over eight years. Two of the five charged were surgeons and one was a former owner of Pacific Hospital. The scheme benefited doctors and chiropractors who referred their patients to two Southern California hospitals for thousands of operations.

 

2. (California) FedEx Settles Misclassification Case For $228 Million (6/16/15)2. fedex FedEx has agreed to pay $228 million to resolve claims by 2,300 FedEx Ground pickup and delivery drivers in California. FedEx was labeling drivers as independent contractors in order to avoid the costs of trucks, branded uniforms, scanners, fuel, maintenance of the trucks, insurance and much more. Drivers were also not paid for missed meals, rest periods, or overtime compensation.

 

3. (California) Spanish Translators Caught in $24 Million Workers’ Compensation Fraud Case (12/17/15)Screen Shot 2016-01-16 at 12.21.25 AM The owners of G&G Translation services and over 200 of their employees fraudulently billed $24.6 million in workers’ compensation cases for services never rendered.  For example, one bill was for $422,000 for translation services by a translator who was actually in prison at the time. G&G obtained a list of patients who needed translation services at medical facilities and used those names to submit bills to large self-insured employers.

 

4. (California) Sewing Subcontractors Charged With Running $11 Million Dollar Workers’ Comp Insurance Fraud Scheme (4/16/15) Caroline ChoiJae Kim

Two CEOs of a sewing company were arrested on April 15, 2015 for conspiring with their CPA, Jae Kim, to underreport $78.5 million in payroll to multiple insurers. They were arrested on 18 felony counts of workers’ compensation insurance fraud totaling more than $11 million in losses.

 

5. (California) Truck Drivers Awarded More Than $2 Million Due To Misclassification By Employer (2/3/15)

Pacer Cartage drivers protesting in November (Photo from the Teamsters Union)

Pacer Cartage drivers protesting in November (Photo from the Teamsters Union)

Pacer Cartage, Inc. (one of the largest port trucking companies in the U.S.) owes $2,026,483 to seven truckers due to “unlawful payroll deductions and expenses as part of a wage theft scheme” by the company. The employees were incorrectly classified as “contract laborers” who were forced to lease their trucks by their employer, and the employer avoided paying workers’ compensation premiums. Their leases were deducted from their paychecks, and the employees were not allowed to use the trucks for any other business purpose or drive them home.

 

6. (California) NFL Player and Gallagher Bassett Adjuster Plead Guilty to Wire Fraud & Filing False Workers’ Comp Claims for $1.5 Million (10/1/15)

Marcus Buckley (55) played for the New York Giants from 1993 to 2000.

Marcus Buckley (55) played for the New York Giants from 1993 to 2000.

Claims Adjuster Kimberly Jones filed fraudulent workers’ compensation claims on behalf of former NFL player Marcus Buckley between 2001 and 2011. In 2006 Buckley filed a workers’ compensation claim that was settled for $300,000 in 2010. After the case was settled, Buckley and Jones filed numerous requests for reimbursement under Buckley’s closed cases providing fictitious invoices, statements and credit bills. Buckley received more than $1.5 million.

 

7. (New York) Plumbing and Heating Contractors Settle for $1.4 Million(4/21/15) USDOL_Seal_circa_2015.svgFour Long Island City plumbing and heating contractors misclassified and underpaid a total of 300 employees. At least 25 employees were misclassified as independent contractors, several hundred were not paid overtime, and the companies’ recordkeeping did not meet the Fair Labor Standards Act requirements. The companies settled out of court when the Wage and Hour Division’s New York City District Office investigated and litigation began for a total of $710,000 in back wages to cover September 2010-April 2014 and damages for 300 employees equaling $1.42 million dollars.

 

8. (Washington) Drywall Contractor in Walla Walla Must Pay More Than $1 Million in Workers’ Compensation Premiums and Penalties (4/17/15) drywallShawn A. Campbell and his wife were held personally liable for over $1 million in unpaid premiums, interest and late penalties for their company. Campbell listed his employees as co-owners in order to avoid paying workers’ compensation premiums.

 

9. (Utah) Construction Company to Pay $700,000 for Misclassification Scheme (5/1/15) CSG Workforce Partners (a.k.a. Universal Contracting, LLC and later as Arizona Tract/Arizona CLA) required their workers to classify themselves as “members/owners” which limited their legal rights and gave them no minimum wage guarantee, no time-and-a-half overtime pay, no workers’ compensation insurance and no unemployment insurance. When the employers found out that the state of Utah was investigating, they packed-up and left for Arizona. However, they were tracked down and charged $600,000 in back wages to employees as well as $100,000 for their willful violations of employment laws.

10. (Massachusetts) Roofing Business Owners Indicted for Workers’ Comp Fraud Totaling $615,000 (3/25/15) Two business owners allegedly failed to accurately report their payroll and underreported earnings in order to be granted lower insurance premiums in three roofing companies between 2008 and 2014. They avoided paying a total of more than $615,000 in insurance premiums alone.   For more information, contact: Leonard T. Jernigan, Jr. Adjunct Professor of Workers’ Compensation Law N.C. Central University School of Law The Jernigan Law Firm 2626 Glenwood Avenue, Suite 330 Raleigh, North Carolina 27608 (919) 833-0299 ltj@jernlaw.com www.jernlaw.com Twitter: @jernlaw Blog: www.ncworkcompjournal.com

The offices of Rehm, Bennett, Moore & Rehm, which also sponsors the Trucker Lawyers website, are located in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Five attorneys represent plaintiffs in workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment and Social Security disability claims. The firm’s lawyers have combined experience of more than 95 years of practice representing injured workers and truck drivers in Nebraska, Iowa and other states with Nebraska and Iowa jurisdiction. The lawyers regularly represent hurt truck drivers and often sue Crete Carrier Corporation, K&B Trucking, Werner Enterprises, UPS, and FedEx. Lawyers in the firm hold licenses in Nebraska and Iowa and are active in groups such as the College of Workers’ Compensation Lawyers, Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group (WILG), American Association for Justice (AAJ), the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys (NATA), and the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). We have the knowledge, experience and toughness to win rightful compensation for people who have been injured or mistreated.

This entry was posted in doctors, Employee Misclassification, employer fraud, Fraud, Misclassification, Wage Theft and tagged , , , , , , , .