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When someone submits a workers’ compensation claim, it means that they are unable to perform their job responsibilities because of an on-the-job injury. The Daily Republic tells the story of one California man who used his workers’ compensation claim as an opportunity to take a vacation.
The story states that the man, who was a prison counselor, claimed that he was no longer physically capable of working because the pain inhibited his ability to walk, sit down or sleep comfortably. He reportedly blamed his malady on years of managing fights at the prison where he worked. (Prisons can be notoriously rough places to work.)
Despite detailing intractable pain to his medical providers, video surveillance footage at this fraudster’s trial showed the man playing basketball, moving appliances, working out and acting in a local theatre’s production of the famous play “Misery Loves Company.” (I predict he’s going to feel a bit miserable when he finds himself behind bars and in the company of fellow prisoners, maybe some of them he formerly counseled. I wonder what advice they might give to him.)
The former prison counselor was sentenced to six months in jail for workers’ compensation fraud and related criminal charges because he inappropriately claimed more than $50,000 in workers’ compensation and medical claims. (While workers’ compensation claims reflect a physical inability to continue working, this man simply wanted to stop working.)
The amount that this fraudster must repay to the government in restitution will be set at a later date, but for now he has been convicted by a jury and will be heading to prison. (Isn’t that ironic since that is precisely the place he was trying to avoid when he began requesting workers’ compensation insurance?)
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