Fraud and Workers' Compensation

Workers' Compensation Attorney in San Diego

Workers' compensation fraud may be more than an employee simply inventing or exaggerating a workplace injury in order to receive benefits or work for cash while "disabled". Workers' compensation fraud may also occur on the employer's end, by underreporting payroll to receive lower premiums. Health care providers may also commit workers' compensation fraud by overbilling or billing for services that were not performed. In all, workers' compensation fraud is estimated to cost billions of dollars every year.

Types of Workers' Compensation Fraud

Following are some potential examples of workers' compensation fraud that may be committed by a worker:

• Working while allegedly disabled, without reporting the income
• Claiming an injury to be work-related when it is actually not
• Creating a false work-related injury
• Exaggerating or inventing symptoms
• Exaggerating mileage

If a worker is found to have committed workers' compensation fraud, he or she may not only be at risk of facing criminal charges but may also be denied any benefits that he or she would have otherwise received if fraud had not been involved.

At times, workers' compensation fraud may occur unintentionally as an employee is trying to fill out a claim to receive the benefits he or she should be entitled to. He or she may unintentionally misrepresent information or otherwise place himself in jeopardy of losing his or her right to benefits. Working with an attorney may be helpful to a worker in a number of ways, first and foremost by helping to ensure that a workers' compensation claim is filed properly and helping a worker avoid fraud or any type of misrepresentation in the claim process.

Questions about fraud and workers' compensation claims in California? Contact a San Diego workers' compensation lawyer at Pacific Attorney Group today.