Why It Is Always Important To Report Workplace Injuries
The Workers' Compensation Board is requiring a plastic manufacturing company
to justify its apparent failure to provide information on multiple work-related injuries; otherwise, they will be assessed a $52,500 fine. The company failed to report at least 21 injury cases in a timely manner as shown by a state-run investigation. Legally, a company is required to report an injury within ten days.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. However, the results of the investigation indicate that there were several instances which occurred last year and as yet remained unreported. This is an unprecedented case.
During their investigation, attorneys working for the Workers Compensation Board was unable to find another case involving a company being fined for failure to report or for under reporting instances of job-related injuries since the law was created in 1944. Lawyers representing the plastic manufacturer also failed to locate another case. The attorneys involved specialized in Workers' Compensation Law.
The members of the Board have yet to make a statement concerning the company's accusations. The company's human resource manager announced that they anticipate the hearing will bring closure to the charges. Still, the case represents a chance to further examine the elements involved and what has been discovered thus far should lead to a satisfactory ending.
The company has been accused by a portion of its workers and by the steelworkers union of having willfully kept Workers' Compensation and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration uninformed of these injuries. The workers feel that by the company not reporting the incidents they are gaining financial advantage by cheating the worker protection system. In the cases that weren't reported, if the worker couldn't work, the company continued to pay them, as well as paying for the expenses necessary to get them back on their feet.
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. Following the action taken by the union, a sudden surge of 60 cases surfaced (all involving unrelated injuries) and were filed with the Board--many of which were dated to 1994. The accused company maintained that their understanding of the law had been incorrect, and that even though these cases ought to have been filed previously, they didn't realize it.
The company could be looking at fines of up to $2,500 per incident not reported within the required timeframe if the Board finds against the company. In addition to the monetary penalty, they could be criminally liable. This case has now been sent to the Attorney General's Criminal Fraud Unit by the Worker's Compensation Board.
The number of cases and size of the investigation continues to grow as time goes on, including four workers who lost fingers or parts of their fingers while working at the plant.
A former employee has alleged in a $350,000 lawsuit that the firm canceled her health insurance while she was on Workers' Compensation as they at the same time were taking her payments for the premiums.
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. The company operates an additional 4 facilities in Indiana and Illinois.
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