subject: Learn About The Legal Repercussions For Not Reporting Work-related Injuries [print this page] 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 had not reported as many as 21 jobs in the required amount of time. The law dictates that companies report work-related injuries within ten days of their occurrence.
The company must attend hearings to prove that proper protocol was followed and submit proof of their submission to the Workers' Compensation Board for all injuries. The report showed that a large percentage of the unreported injury cases dated back a year or more. Ostensibly, there has been no employer which has been confronted with such a penalty.
The option to penalize companies for not reporting their workers' injuries was first instated in 1944, but research of the law revealed no prior case records of any companies being subjected to such penalization. A lawyer for the plastic manufacturer attempted to locate additional cases and was unable to find any. This counsel even specialized in this type of law.
The members of the Board have yet to make a statement concerning the company's accusations. The manager for Human Resources at the plastic manufacturer has stated the company was looking forward to having a hearing that will resolve this issue. The official noted the firm welcomed the chance to bring the details of these cases to light, and that a favorable outcome was likely after they were fairly evaluated.
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. Numerous people see the firm's actions as a method of beating the system in order to obtain a financial advantage. On the occasions when a worker's injury prohibited him from working, the plastic manufacturer paid him for that lost time and paid his medical costs.
The problem comes in when the company doesn't report the incident and therefore avoid the cost of compensating a worker whose injuries may continue to recur for many years after the initial accident, as well as getting out of an inspection. The company reported to the Workers' Compensation Board an additional 60 incidents of non-related injuries from 1994 to present after the complaint was filed by the union. 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 the findings of the Worker's Compensation Board is that the law has been violated by the company, each case that wasn't reported within the required 10 days after the injury occurred could be fined up to $2500. In addition to the possible fines and penalties, they could be facing criminal charges as well. The case of the plastic manufacturer was actually sent to the criminal fraud unit under the attorney general.
Most recently, four cases were presented where workers had all or part of their fingers cut off during work at the plant; investigation continues into these and other allegations of under reported injuries.
In a $350,000 lawsuit filed by a former employee, she states her health insurance benefits were canceled by the company while she was off work and on Worker's Compensation, but they continued to cash the premium payments she was making.
The Director of the United Steelworkers of America has proposed that a full corporate investigation be conducted based upon the findings at the one plant. Four more of the plastic manufacturing plants can be found in Indiana, and Illinois.
by: addianmaddi
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