July 14, 2020
Blog In 2015, worker’s compensation covered over 135 million employees. But what if one of those employees suffered a fake injury on the job?
Luckily, you can fight the claim if you believe an employee is lying about an injury. But you should know how to tell if someone is lying.
What’s more, you also need to figure out how to fight the claim without raising the cost of your worker’s compensation plan. Keep reading to learn more about dealing with a fake injury.
How to Tell If an Employee Has a Fake Injury
Before you can fight a fake injury claim, you should know when a worker has a fabricated injury. A professional employer organization (PEO) can help employers with legitimate claims, but if you can’t detect the difference between a real and a fake injury, your PEO cost might go up.
Whenever an employee files for worker’s compensation, you should ask them a few questions. The more you know about the situation, the better you can assist that employee.
And while you don’t want to be suspicious of every single claim, you can make asking questions part of your standard procedure. Then, you can weed out bogus cases so that you can focus on the employees who need the most help.
When They Got the Injury
The first thing you should ask an employee is when they first got the injury in question. Consider asking when they first noticed any signs or felt any changes.
You can compare their answers to the worker’s schedule to see how closely it matches their work shift.
Even if the employee’s schedule matches up, you should see if anyone else was working with that person. Then, you can ask another employee to verify the timeline of the injury onset.
Where They Got the Injury
Most employees will say that they suffered an injury on the job, so you may need to go deeper. Ask them for more details on their surroundings, such as if they were in an office, warehouse, or at a work site.
You can compare this information with the type of injury the employee claims to have. If they have a neck injury but spent the day in question at their desk, it may be a fake injury.
On the other hand, if an employee was working with stock and experienced a hand injury, it’s possible that something fell.
How They Got the Injury
You also want to understand as best as you can how your employee got their injury. Maybe something fell on them, or perhaps they got into a minor car accident on the job.
The more details you can get, the easier it will be to tell if the employee is lying. If you ask about specific events that happened, a liar will have to make up those details on the spot. But an honest employee shouldn’t have a problem recounting that information.
How to Fight a Fake Injury Claim
Once you determine that you have a fake injury claim, you need to fight it. In this case, you should contact the employee in question to tell them about your suspicions.
Some employees won’t admit to a fake injury because it usually means they’ll have to pay back any compensation they receive.
But you should tell them what’s happening so that they’re aware. Then, the company and the employee can go through the process to fight the bogus claim.
Communicate With Employees
After a fake injury claim, you should communicate with all of your employees on your company policies. Remind everyone that you don’t tolerate fake claims and that you have consequences if you find out about one.
Be sure to follow through with your policies with the current claim. Then, you can use that as an example of what everyone shouldn’t do.
You can send the information in an email, or you can include it as part of a team meeting. If you want to offer a reward for detecting fraud in the future, you can share that information as well.
After the incident, you should maintain regular contact with your employees. Make sure they feel like they can come to you with questions or concerns. If you can build that trust, your employees may not be as tempted to lie to you.
Contact Your Insurer
As soon as you have a fake injury on your hands, you should contact your insurance company. Whether you work with a PEO or directly with a broker, you need to tell them about the fraud.
The company can help you move forward in fighting the fake injury claim. You can get help with any legal procedures you need to follow, as well as how to get the money back from the employee.
Contacting your insurance provider soon will also help you maintain trust with them. Then, whenever you or your business files a claim, the insurer won’t feel like you’re trying to scam them.
You should also have regular communication with your insurance company. If anything changes, such as the size of your company or your needs, you can get a new PEO quote to suit that.
Plus, you can build a good relationship with the provider for when you need their help in the future.
Consider Employers Liability Insurance vs Workers Compensation
If you find that you need more protection than a simple worker’s compensation plan, you may want employers liability insurance.
The two plans are similar, but liability insurance covers more than compensation. It can cover you when an employee has a fake injury, but you can also protect yourself from litigation from people outside the company.
So if you ever fight a fake injury and the employee’s family tries to sue your company, you can use your employee liability insurance.
Whether it’s time to renew your plan or not, you should think about employers liability insurance vs workers compensation and which is right for you.
Protection at Its Finest
Dealing with a fake injury claim can be annoying at best and expensive at worst. You need to make sure that you fight and win against the claim.
Plus, you need to let your other employees know that they can’t get away with that.
Do you need a new worker’s compensation plan? Get an online quote today.
