An Employers' Nightmare, Part 1: Confessions of 'Bill'

Sunday, May 22, 2005 | 0

By Brent Heurter

The person I am writing about could very well be the next person who walks in your door, looking for a job at your company. He is a composite of employees and prospective employees I've encountered, both as an employer and as a workers' compensation solutions specialist. Let's call him Bill.

Bill lives in Los Angeles. He is in his thirties, of medium build, and has dark hair--basically your average employee--probably not unlike many of the employees you currently have working for you.

However, there is one big difference about Bill. Bill is a professional workers' comp victim. Bill and many others like him have learned how to work the workers' compensation system in California to get paid while they sit at home drinking beer and watching TV all day. Bill calls it his "annual paid vacation," courtesy of workers' comp.

Bill is currently unemployed, but just received a $10,000 settlement from his previous employer's workers' comp carrier who failed to properly investigate the claim. Bill is once again looking for suitable employmentand by that, he means looking for the provider of his next paid workers' comp vacation. By the time you're reading this, Bill could be working for your company.

Let's "talk" with Bill and try to see what's going through his mind as he prepares to once again enter the job market.

BH: Bill, thanks for joining us today. You call yourself a "professional workers' comp victim"; what exactly does this mean?

Bill: Yeah, that's what me and my friends call ourselves. I wouldn't put that on an employment application though! I don't think it would go over that well. A professional workers' comp victim is someone who makes money from filing workers' comp claims and collecting benefits. I'm just coming off workers comp claim number five in the seven years I've been doing this.

BH: Can you tell us more about how you do this?

Bill: Sure, but I'm not going to tell you everything because I'm still making good money doing this and I don't want it to stop!
I first size up an employer and go get a job. I play by their rules for about 60 to 90 days and then--WHAM! I tell everyone I hurt my back when I bent over to lift something. I call my attorney. He's got a doctor who's willing to say anything so that I can get off work. The doctor doesn't care because he gets paid too!

BH: So let me get this straight: you fake an injury, then call your attorney who sets you up with a doctor. You're immediately taken off work & and you get paid?

Bill: Yeah, that's right. One time I actually did hurt myself when I was being careless on purpose and I really milked that one. So it's not ALWAYS totally fake injuries. It's about exaggerating real injuries, too; that's how you make the big bucks!

BH: Aren't you afraid that of going to jail for workers' comp fraud?

Bill: That's the beauty of it: the insurance companies don't care, and the employers can't do a damn thing! Did you know that there are close to two million workers' comp claims filed every year in California, and only several hundred get prosecuted for fraud? The DA's office doesn't care about us little guys. They want bigger fish to fry. Besides, it's almost impossible to prove workers' comp fraud in California. And if there is a real injury and you exaggerate it, you've got no worries at all--that's not even illegal!

BH: You mean if you hurt your foot, you can say your back, arms, legs, and every other body part is now affected? And even if this isn't true, you can't get in trouble?

Bill: Welcome to California!

BH: Let's talk about how you select an employer to set up for a workers' comp claim. What do you look for?

Bill: Well, it's actually quite easy. I start applying for jobs and I look for employers who don't follow any type of hiring process. The perfect candidates are ones that don't require drug screens, don't conduct background checks, and don't require medical exams. Once I find out through the grapevine who these employers are, I go there and look around before I apply for a job.
You can pretty much tell the employers who do follow proper hiring procedures from those who don't. I'll talk to a couple of employees outside to find out what the culture' is in the company, how many people are out on workers' comp claims, and whether or not the employer has a return-to-work program and enforces it. This usually doesn't take long to find a perfect employer who will hire me right away.

BH: What do you do if you find out the employer does conduct background checks and a physical?

Bill: I'll lie about my previous workers' comp claims because employers NEVER verify it anyway.

BH: I must say I'm shocked at how easy it is for you to make a living at this. If you could give employers one word of advice, what would it be?

Bill: No way! I've got a job to do and if too many employers wise up, I'm out of work!

Well, there you have it. One out of 10 applicants have filed workers' comp claims against previous employers and when asked about previous injuries, the professional workers' comp victim, the "Bills" of the world, will lie.

There is a way, however, that you can legally and safely find out if an applicant has filed previous workers' comp claims. Tune in for Part 2, coming soon!

Brent is the Founder and Chief Solutions Officer of ClearComp, developers of VeriShield, the legal, risk-free way to conduct workers' compensation background checks. Brent can be reached at 1-877SHIELD-9, online at www.VeriShield.com, or by e-mail at brent@clearcomp.com.

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