Possible Outcomes of Under-reporting Injuries Sustained in the Workplace
Recently, a company that manufactures plastics became liable to the Workers Compensation
Board for fines totaling $52500 for failing to report a series of job related injuries. An investigation of the company revealed that the company delayed reporting approximately 21 injuries to the Board. Any work-related injury must be reported in less than ten days, according to state law.The manufacturer was instructed to present itself at a hearing to demonstrate that it had adhered to the law and had reported the injuries to Workers' Compensation. Even though the investigation discovered there were a lot of cases dated back to the previous year, they had still not been reported. Ostensibly, there has been no employer which has been confronted with such a penalty.The ability to impose fines for noncompliance under the law was established in 1944, but the attorneys for the Workers' Compensation Board were unable to find any case since that time where a company was ordered to pay a fine for the violation.
An attorney representing the plastics firm, attempting to find an existing case, failed to find one. The manufacturers lawyer was even a lawyer specialized in Worker's Compensation.To date there has been no comments issued concerning the allegations from any of the board members. The company's human resource manager announced that they anticipate the hearing will bring closure to the charges. They also find hope in how the information already collected has been evaluated, and are hoping that they can discuss the allegations in further detail at the hearing.
The company has been blamed by several employees and the steelworkers' union for intentionally omitting information regarding the injuries to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Workers' Compensation Board. The possibility was raised that the company may have actually been trying to game the system and profit from the situation. In situations where the workers were not allowed due to their injuries the manufacturer compensated them for their time off as well as paid medical expenses for them.
A union lawyer reported that companies can be motivated to under report their workers' injuries to avoid liability for later complications and to keep regulatory agencies from taking a closer look at their operations. The plastic manufacturer filed 60 cases dating back to 1994 after the union accused the company of cheating the system. It was determined that in some of those cases, it was the company's failure to correctly interpret the law that caused the delay.
If a company does not report an injury within 10 days of the incident, then the law allows the company to be fined for as much as $2,500 per case they haven't reported. In addition to the possible fines and penalties, they could be facing criminal charges as well. A unit working under the state Attorney General was subsequently assigned to the case.The unreported injuries will continue to be examined, although the board is also investigating four separate injuries that involved employees having their fingers severed while working.
A complaint was filed by an employee who alleges that the company discontinued her health coverage while she was out on Workers' Compensation, although she states she paid her premiums and they cashed her checks.Based on what the union found during their investigations of one plant with the corporation, the Director of the United Steelworkers of America called for a full corporation investigation. There are four other branches in operation in Indiana and Illinois.
Possible Outcomes of Under-reporting Injuries Sustained in the Workplace
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