Workers’ Compensation Fraud

Sometimes, the good-intentioned assistance programs that exist so graciously in our society are targeted by people of ill-intent who wish to fraudulently take advantage of their services.  At Industrial Health, the program relevant to our company is Workers’ Compensation.  In the simplest of terms, this is a no-fault service to the worker who sustains an injury while in the job place.  These injuries range from a simple muscle strain that can linger for days or weeks; skeletal and/or ligament damage that require months to rehabilitate; all the way to more severe injuries that involve multiple bodily systems and could potentially be permanently debilitating.  Regardless of how the injury happened – whether through employee or employer negligence, or just a freak accident – Workers’ Compensation provides a safety net that can give the injured worker an income until they are able to safely return to work.  In some cases, the check they receive is vital to keeping the lights on in their home, fuel in their vehicle, and food on the table.

Accidents happen.  It’s a fact of life.  Without question, the majority of workers’ compensation claims are legitimate.  This is to say that the injured worker is putting forth the time and effort needed to rehabilitate their injury, while also avoiding activities which could jeopardize their progress.  “I just want to get back to work,” is a commonly uttered phrase during an evaluation.  However, if a majority exists there must also be a minority:  the malingers and the frauds.  When stories like this enter the public realm, it is truly enraging.  I cannot speak for this employee,  but obviously his actions were premeditated.  He is just one of many workers who try to defraud Workers’ Compensation on an annual basis.  Unfortunately, these instances of fraud tend to make the legitimate cases more complex and time consuming due to a greater amount of case-by-case scrutiny by Workers’ Compensation.

Here at Industrial Health, we want people to get back to work and will do all that is within our scope of power to facilitate a safe and effective recovery.  However, we also strive to lighten the financial burden of the Workers’ Compensation system by recognizing those individuals who are not being completely honest about their injury.  Our Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE), based on the Matheson philosophy, is an effective tool that case managers and physicians can utilize if confronted with an injured worker whom they suspect may have secondary gains (though this is not the only use of an FCE!).  For more on FCEs, please click here.

Written by Industrial Health, a specialized Workers’ Compensation therapy center which services Northern Virginia , Sterling , Loudoun , Fairfax , Dulles , Chantilly , Leesburg , Ashburn , Herndon , Reston , Centreville ; and offers programs including Physical Therapy , Functional Capacity Evaluations (FCE) , Work Hardening , Work Conditioning , Impairment Ratings , Permanent Partial Disability Ratings