Employers work hard to make sure that their employees are safe from injury on the job. Unfortunately, there are times that despite the most careful precautions, an employee sustains a work-related injury and will accordingly submit a claim for workers’ compensation. The vast majority of employees who submit a claim for workers’ compensation are validly injured and will want to return to work as soon as possible. Unfortunately, there are a handful of dishonest people who will try to abuse the system. If you are an employer who suspects your employee is not being totally honest about the work-related injury, you may consider hiring a private investigator.
One reason you may want to consider hiring a private investigator is if the medical reports fail to match up with the severity of the injury that the employee is reporting. This could be both in terms of the acute symptoms as well as how long it is taking the employee to recover. When an employee commits fraud by exaggerating the severity or duration of his or her injury, it is called “malingering,” and can be a good reason to hire a private investigator.
Another reason could be if the employee’s social media shows him or her engaging in activities that do not seem compatible with the injury. For example, if the employee states his or her back pain prevents him or her from standing or sitting for any longer than thirty minutes, but social media indicates the employee spends weekends hiking, hiring a private investigator can help provide more proof of fraud.
Another red flag for fraud that may suggest you want to hire a private investigator is if the employee has filed lots of workers’ compensation cases in the past. This may indicate that the employee knows how to “work the system” and has made a habit of filing fraudulent claims and malingering. Hiring a private investigator can help you get details about past claims as well as information about how the employee is spending his or her time away from work.
A private investigator can fill many roles, such as setting up surveillance, collecting information from the internet, and talking to witnesses to the event. The private investigator can help you uncover fraud and move forward.
We have experience assisting our clients with fraudulent workers’ compensation claims. Call us today to talk about your business.