Brick Firm Busted For Workers Comp Fraud

Just one month after Federal Government findings that levels of fraudulent workers compensation claims by employees are “very low” a Dapto bricklaying firm has been convicted of falsifying information to cut premiums.

A Federal Parliamentary Committee report, Back On The Job, last month found the number of workers faking injuries to claim compo was very low, with most wanting to return to work as soon as possible.

NSW Labor Council put in a submission to the inquiry, with OHS Officer Mary Yaager saying that not only was there "very little, if any" evidence of fraudulent claims by workers, the same could not be said of employers.

"There was overwhelming evidence of fraud and non-compliance by employers who were not meeting their obligation to have a workers compensation policy in place and were under-declaring wages by withholding accurate information about the number of workers the employed," she says.

In the case of a former bricklaying firm director, recently convicted of five counts of workers compensation fraud, he had used false business cards and invoices to reduce his workers compensation premiums.

The NSW Chief Industrial Magistrate's Court heard the director falsified the number of sub-contractors he used, which at the time were responsible for their own workers compensation policies, and reduced the number of paid workers he employed.

Ms Yaager said the director's actions were not uncommon but said the inquiry's focus on this type of fraud appeared to be minimal.

"At the time of this inquiry and while giving evidence to the Committee, the whole focus appeared to be on employee fraud. This was despite the fact that numerous national and international inquiries had repeatedly found very little if any evidence of this type of fraud but ample at the employer end."

Meanwhile, the NSW Government has recognised that compliance by employers is such a major issue that they have introduced significant reforms in this area. These include new obligations on principal contractors to make sure their subcontractors have current workers compensation policies and that they supply correct information regarding wage declaration and the number of employees.

Other measures have included doubling WorkCover's existing fraud unit and setting up another within its legal branch, improving cooperation between government agencies, and providing assistance to help insurers' develop more sophisticated fraud detection teams.

Labor Council will now review the recommendations made within the report.

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Case source: WorkCover Authority (Insp Shearing) v Daryl Leslie Waller - CIM 20193760, 20193807, 20193794 & 20193778 of 2002 & 20193786 of 2001

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Last modified: Tuesday, 15-Nov-2005 20:37:36 EST