Accidents are a common occurrence in any workplace. When a worker is injured, he or she has the right to receive monetary compensation to cover medical expenses, rehabilitation, lost wages, etc. However, employees, employers, and even healthcare providers may take advantage of the process to receive astronomical amounts of money through workers' compensation fraud.
Some workers may use workers' compensation fraud to obtain a lofty monetary settlement by fraud. However, if you were injured on the job, your employer or its insurance company may claim workers' compensation fraud as a reason to deny your workers' compensation benefits.
If you are falsely accused of workers' compensation fraud, you should work with an excellent Los Angeles workers' compensation law firm to defend your rights and clear your name, and C&B Law Group may be exactly what you need.
C&B Law Firm is a law firm with years of experience in the area of workers' compensation, comprised of legal professionals who are always available to you. Feel free to contact them for a free initial consultation.
What Is Workers' Compensation Fraud?
According to the California Insurance Code, INS § 1871.4, it is illegal to "make or cause to be made a knowingly false or fraudulent material statement or material representation for the purpose of obtaining or denying any compensation, as defined in Section 3207 of the Labor Code."
In other words, if an employee or employer manipulates information in any way to obtain greater compensation or deny a fair monetary settlement, depending on the case, the perpetrator would be committing a serious crime.
However, there are some aspects of the law that you should be aware of. First, the California Insurance Code specifies that for it to be considered fraud, the employee or employer must act knowingly (or on purpose). So, if you don't know what you're doing, you may be damaging your case, but you won't necessarily be committing fraud.
On the other hand, for a false statement to be considered fraudulent, it must be material to the case. That is, if in your testimony you claim that the injury happened at 2:15 PM, when it actually happened at 2:00 PM, as this detail is probably not relevant to the case, it won't be considered fraudulent.
Examples of Workers' comp fraud
Some examples of workers' compensation fraud include:
Non-workplace injuries: When an employee is injured outside of work, and then claims that the injury is work-related.
False injuries: When an employee claims compensation for an injury that never occurred.
Inflated injuries: When a worker exaggerates the effects of an injury to receive a larger compensation.
False reports: This type of fraud occurs when a worker forges evidence relevant to the case in order to obtain greater benefits.
How can I deal with false allegations of workers' compensation fraud?
If your compensation is denied due to false allegations of workers' compensation fraud, be aware that these accusations are quite serious and could have consequences beyond not receiving a monetary settlement, so you should act quickly to clarify the situation. Some strategies that may help you clear your name include:
- Obtain the necessary medical reports to demonstrate that your injury occurred on the job.
- Collect any additional evidence available that can help prove the validity of the injury, such as statements from your co-workers, video from surveillance cameras, etc.
- Seek the opinion of a second physician who can provide an independent assessment of your condition.
- Work with a workers compensation attorney los angeles that can help you defend your rights both outside and inside the courtroom, if necessary.
When you are looking for a workers' compensation attorney you can trust, consider C&B Law Group. This law firm offers completely free consultations, so if you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact them for a free consultation.
Learn more about the law on Legal Facts
The workers' compensation system can be very complicated for those who are unfamiliar with it. If you need to find a workmans comp lawyer in west covina If you want to know more about it, feel free to visit the Legal facts website. Here you will find useful information on all kinds of legal issues in easy-to-read articles written by experienced attorneys. Plus, through Legal Facts, you can contact attorneys near you who are ready to help you with whatever you need. If you are an attorney that needs to buy leagal leads click the link.
NOTE: I use a Quote from the California Insurance Code, that's why there are many Copyscape results.
