by Jennifer M. Smith, Esq.

There have a been several stories about workers’ compensation fraud in the news the past few months which are interesting to read, but also serve as a reminder that monitoring social media and performing investigative work (whether hiring professional investigators for surveillance or even just speaking with co-workers) can pay off.

It was a YouTube video that helped lead to the recent arrest of a California woman who had been receiving workers’ compensation benefits for a fractured toe. She was caught on camera in several beauty pageants walking in high heels during the time that she supposedly was unable to put weight on her foot. The “injured” worker had convinced her physicians that she was unable to move her foot in any direction, could not wear any type of shoe for long periods of time and needed to remain off of work.

Appearances on television also lead to the arrests of two other individuals in potential fraud cases which made headlines recently. In one, a contestant on The Price is Right who was receiving workers’ compensation benefits for a shoulder injury was caught spinning the Big Wheel. At the time she appeared on the game show, she was collecting $3,000 per month in benefits. In another story, one of the dancing hamsters in the popular Kia car commercials was charged with fraud after collecting over $51,000 in benefits from 2010 through 2011. He claimed he was disabled when a piece of ceiling fell on him, but apparently not too disabled to get paid for dancing in a hamster costume and also as a back-up dancer for pop artists Madonna, Kelly Rowland and Chris Brown.

In Georgia, the Enforcement Division of the State Board of Workers’ Compensation handles any reports of fraud. Pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 34-9-21, any employee who fraudulently retains income benefits to which the employee is not entitled to shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, can be punished by imprisonment of up to one year and/or a fine between $1,000 to $10,000. To report fraud, the State Board provides a specific form, the “Workers’ Compensation and Non-Compliance Reporting Form” which can be found at the State Board website: https://sbwc.georgia.gov/fraud-non-compliance-reporting-form. The State Board also provides “Stop Fraud” posters with a toll free fraud hotline telephone number which employers can post in conjunction with the “Panel of Physicians” and “Employee Bill of Rights” posters.