[BRIDGETSTEPP]

My step-dad was injured on the job in June 2003. He was working in a California safety lab, safety testing a large ATM machine. The machine began to roll & jammed him up against the door. He doesn’t recall if he lost consciousness or not but remembers he was knocked to the floor. Being a very proud man, be bounced back up before anyone could see he was knocked to the floor to avoid embarrassment. This happened during lunch & with no witnesses. He reported his arm hurting but didn’t immediately report being knocked to the ground.

Soon after the accident he began to have increasingly severe problems with his arm. Doctor’s thought it was Parkinson’s for a while & then a protein virus that they treated for several months. He was referred to a specialist at UCSF & repeatedly mentioned the accident at his employers, which is only recorded once in his records. The Head of Neurosurgery wanted to relieve his pain & would say “Let’s deal with Work Comp later.” Nearly a year later, on the advice of the doctor, a Work Comp claim was finally filed. Since then he has had neck surgery, severe nerve damage, & unable to return to work.

The Work Comp was fought up to the Writ at the Superior Court, without an attorney, so of course the claim was denied. Work Comp has not paid a single cent to him for anything. They are struggling to pay their own medical bills & living on disability.

The DA in their county had called about a year ago investigating him for Work Comp fraud. This DA eventually said he would not prosecute the case & we thought that was the end of it. About a month ago, the Bay Area DA calls saying he is now investigating him for Work Comp fraud. He got a call on Thursday saying that the DA decided to prosecute because nobody saw the accident happen & would be issuing a warrant for his arrest! On Friday he spoke to someone in the legal department & has an appointment set up for Monday at 1pm to see if he can be released on an O.R. Someone from that office got the DA to hold off on the warrant until Monday, but he is being ordered to turn himself in at the jail immediately afterwards.

My step-dad didn't report the accident right away because one of the owners was supposing to be his best friend. He also figured he would be sore for a little while & get over it but the severe nerve damage is permanent. Even though the claim was filed within the year, he didn’t receive even a penny from Work Comp, &

He is a very proud man & doesn't show his emotions very much. He keeps a lot inside & this was going to be another one of those times until the nerve damage got extremely bad. He thought he would cause problems for himself or his "best friend" if he reported it. It all came down to him not thinking he was actually hurt & that the pain would go away...well it never went away.

[BRIDGETSTEPP]

My step-dad was injured on the job in June 2003. He was working in a California safety lab, safety testing a large ATM machine. The machine began to roll & jammed him up against the door. He doesn’t recall if he lost consciousness or not but remembers he was knocked to the floor. Being a very proud man, be bounced back up before anyone could see he was knocked to the floor to avoid embarrassment. This happened during lunch & with no witnesses. He reported his arm hurting but didn’t immediately report being knocked to the ground.

Soon after the accident he began to have increasingly severe problems with his arm. Doctor’s thought it was Parkinson’s for a while & then a protein virus that they treated for several months. He was referred to a specialist at UCSF & repeatedly mentioned the accident at his employers, which is only recorded once in his records. The Head of Neurosurgery wanted to relieve his pain & would say “Let’s deal with Work Comp later.” Nearly a year later, on the advice of the doctor, a Work Comp claim was finally filed. Since then he has had neck surgery, severe nerve damage, & unable to return to work.

The Work Comp was fought up to the Writ at the Superior Court, without an attorney, so of course the claim was denied. Work Comp has not paid a single cent to him for anything. They are struggling to pay their own medical bills & living on disability.

The DA in their county had called about a year ago investigating him for Work Comp fraud. This DA eventually said he would not prosecute the case & we thought that was the end of it. About a month ago, the Bay Area DA calls saying he is now investigating him for Work Comp fraud. He got a call on Thursday saying that the DA decided to prosecute because nobody saw the accident happen & would be issuing a warrant for his arrest! On Friday he spoke to someone in the legal department & has an appointment set up for Monday at 1pm to see if he can be released on an O.R. Someone from that office got the DA to hold off on the warrant until Monday, but he is being ordered to turn himself in at the jail immediately afterwards.

My step-dad didn't report the accident right away because one of the owners was supposing to be his best friend. He also figured he would be sore for a little while & get over it but the severe nerve damage is permanent. Even though the claim was filed within the year, he didn’t receive even a penny from Work Comp, &

He is a very proud man & doesn't show his emotions very much. He keeps a lot inside & this was going to be another one of those times until the nerve damage got extremely bad. He thought he would cause problems for himself or his "best friend" if he reported it. It all came down to him not thinking he was actually hurt & that the pain would go away...well it never went away.

I'm sorry but it appears part of my post was not included. What I really want to know is what constitutes Work Comp fraud & if what I explained sounds like it is? The DA says there is only circumstantial evidence & basically his word against theirs. The 1st DA wouldn't prosecute because of the evidence only being circumstantial. My step-dad even called his previous employer on Friday & they knew nothing about the charges. They called the DA to see if they could stop it but was told it is out of their hands. The severe nerve damage was progressive over nearly a year & the doctors were actually treating him for a protein virus. He repeatedly told the Neurosurgeon about the accident but it was only recorded once in his chart that it could be the cause of his disability. He didn't know his injury was due to the work accident until the doctor finally told him nearly a year later because he thought it was a protien virus. At one time they even thought it was Parkinsons.

[4eyedbuzzard]

I've never heard of someone being charged with fraud in a situation like this. WC certainly denies a lot of claims, but WC fraud generally centers around someone actually receiving benefits fraudulently by faking an injury and/or lying under oath, submitting false documents, etc. Just because his claim was denied doesn't mean he is trying to commit fraud.

That said, if he is going to be arrested and charged he needs a lawyer pronto.

[muffin2]

You never know how your company will deal with yu and a work comp claim no matter what state you live in. I am the work comp supervisor for a small firm and i tell all of our employees to all ways telll me about any and all injuries and i report them all Aganist the wishes of the owner. so i can understand your father not wanting to tell anyone at work, because if you work for the wrong person it will not get turned in anyway. Some times i think that i could lose my job by going against the owner and reporting claims when he does not want them filed. But because of people like your dad who need somone in there coner i report all claims, the employee has rights too and the employer's should take responsability for work related injuries.
Sorry about your step dad. Hope that things work out.