NFL measure dies on the vine; CA authorities busy with scams

From the serious to the flat-out ridonculous, in this installment we’ll update a few former posts and take a look at a few new stories in the sometimes bizarre world of workers comp cases.

On April 20, we discussed a previously little-known battle within NFL ranks, involving mostly ex-players who have been filing for workers comp benefits in California. State law allows the players to file if they played at least one game in California, and the benefit awards often are more generous than in other states, which costs franchises more money.

From the Bengals to the Saints

Insiders following the story had labeled it “the Bengals situation,” but then the Louisiana state legislature intervened, intending to help its native Super Bowl Champions with a little personnel problem.

Ooops.

The proposed legislation got skewed in the process, potentially affecting every worker in the state. What had been  a barely discussed industry issue suddenly was making regional, even national headlines.

But according to a May 4 article in Bloomberg Businessweek, the Louisiana lege has decided to stand down.

“The Saints had been pushing a bill to lessen its workers’ compensation costs for injured players. But Rep. Cameron Henry shelved the proposal Monday and said he doesn’t expect to bring it up again for the session that ends in June.

” ‘It became clear to all of the parties that it would be easier to work this particular issue out through contracts and the collective bargaining process,’ said Henry, R-Jefferson, after he declined to hear the bill on the House floor as scheduled.”

The players union may have influenced the lawmakers.

“The NFL Players Association argued that the claims complaints should be addressed in the collective bargaining agreement between players and team owners and that Henry’s bill will end up in court if it passes.

“Players union general counsel Richard Berthelsen said many of these claims were being filed decades later because the teams didn’t properly notify players of their workers’ compensation rights to make those claims.”

California employers and ‘safety contests’

What’s with California, anyway?

Maybe it’s because of being so populous, but the Golden State seems to generate more than its fair share of workers comp news. Our most recent California-related report concerned two former managers of a Smurfit-Stone facility who are set to be sentenced later this month after pleading guilty to a screwball scheme to steer injured workers away from proper treatment.

A question in that case was whether the managers were simply overzealous in pursuing company safety standards or whether company policy itself was at fault.  According to the Monterrey County Herald, “Part of the motivation, said the DA, was an incentive program that paid bonuses to managers and other employees if the number of reported injuries was minimized.”

Similar questions may apply in a recent settlement between six counties and the Raley’s grocery chain that operates as Raley’s, Bel Air Markets, Nob Hill supermarkets and Food Source stores, employing about 14,000.

According to a May 4 piece in The Sacramento Bee, the $550,000 settlement resulted from a 2007  investigation that began at one store in Amador County.

The Amador County DA’s office and the state insurance department “began a criminal investigation of a complaint that store managers at the store on Foothills Boulevard had tried to stop an injured employee from filing a claim. Bel Air is owned by Raley’s.

“Two managers eventually were charged with multiple counts of insurance fraud.

“Investigators said they acted on an anonymous tip and learned that the managers dissuaded injured employees from filing state workers’ comp claims in order to earn bonuses for themselves by maintaining the store’s injury-free record.”

The managers eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanors, drawing substantial fines,  probation and community service. However, the one-store investigation led authorities to widen the inquiry that led to the settlement, which includes neither admission of guilt nor denial of charges–but also contains a provision for “a $150,000 sanction if other violations occur in the next five years.”

The next case also involves a purveyor of food, apparently a well-known bagel chain. Here’s the lede from a May 5 post at examiner.com: “If you live in the Bay Area, you’ve probably seen a Posh Bagel store. If you live in prison, you may soon see Posh Bagel’s management on your cell block.”

It seems the California Department of Insurance (CDI) has powers of arrest–in late April CDI agents “slapped . . . the bracelets” on the top three execs of the chain, who now stand charged in what looks like yet another slipshod scheme to  game the system.

“The trio stands accused of what is commonly known as workers’ compensation premium fraud. To understand this crime, you must know that workers’ compensation insurance premiums are determined by such factors as the number of employees on a company’s payroll, the amount the employees are paid, and how frequently the employees get injured on the job.

“All employers in California are required by law to carry workers’ comp insurance, and it isn’t cheap. Employers that aim to lower their workers’ comp expense through dishonest means try all sorts of tricks, from under-reporting payroll to lying about the state in which their employees work.”

The examiner.com account is pithy and more than a bit sassy, well worth reading for the writer’s take on how ill-advised it is to concoct bozo attempts to cheat a system that has necessarily evolved systems to detect cheaters, whether the cheaters be employers or employees, or  insurance or medical providers.

Others may disagree, but this seems to be the “nut graf”:

“Speaking of dumb, CDI alleges that in June 2006, Posh inadvertently sent its former workers’ comp insurance carrier, Applied Underwriters, an internal spreadsheet that showed different payroll data than the company had previously reported to the insurer. When Applied asked Lee what gives, she allegedly said the insurer was mistaken and canceled the policy, CDI said. Posh turned around and took out a new policy from Endurance Reinsurance Corporation of America.”

Like we said in the Smurfit-Stone case: dumb & dumberer…

Although, to be fair–as the examiner.com post reminds us–these accusations are only allegations. We will follow along.<

OK, one last case for this post, involving this time not an employer, but an employee.

‘Stripper Stripped of Her Disability Check, Charged with Insurance Fraud’

Won’t even comment on this, much; if you’re interested, read here.

Here’s the small comment: Strippers provide a legal service, one which many seem willing to subsidize. But doesn’t it test the limits of goofy to swear that you can’t move well…and then go swing on the pole? naked? in a place where anybody might walk in?