Workers compensation insurance fraud is the single most common and rampant form of legal fraud. That being the case, employers are in an extremely good position to uncover false claims and avoid financial liability. Each state and insurance company employs several methods to discover and stop workers compensation insurance fraud.

Thousands of business owners and workers a year commit various forms of workers compensation insurance fraud a year. Some common examples of insurance fraud on the employee’s part are: Exaggeration of the extent of an injury, faking an injury, or claiming an injury happened at work when it in fact did not. These types of employee-committed workers compensation insurance frauds are to get extended periods of paid time off from work.

Employers themselves are just as, if not more, prone to false claims than their employees. There are dozens of ways employers dodge high or raised premiums in order to save a few hundred or thousand dollars a year. Some common examples of employer-committed workers compensation insurance fraud are: Misinformation to the insurance company of employees’ salaries, claiming the employees are not their own employees and are rather independent contractors, and just not carrying workers compensation insurance coverage. Workers compensation insurance fraud is rampant for both employees and employers and workers compensation insurers must investigate both parties closely.

Employers can personally investigate into an employee’s workers compensation insurance claim to ensure that it is legitimate. An employer can look for visible signs on the employee of disability or discomfort (such as a cast or limping), and can also inquire with other employees who were at the scene of the incident as to what happened. There are several methods an employer can confirm that the employee making the workers compensation insurance claim is not filing a false charge. It is in the employer’s best interest to do so, as premiums go up when an incident within the company has occurred.

When being hired an employee should ask several questions about a company’s workers compensation insurance coverage and possibly ask for some papers to confirm that the employer does indeed have a coverage plan and is not committing fraud. Beyond that it is the sole responsibility of the insuring company to confirm that the business is reporting the correct amount of employees, their wages, and the incidents that occur within a year’s period. Employees’ safety is not worth risking in the long run to save some money, unfortunately some businesses do not see it that way and untruthful employers can cause an extensive amount of grief for employees who truly need assistance from workers compensation insurance coverage.

A workers compensation insurance claim can take months or even years to sort out, and a workers compensation insurance fraud only makes it more difficult for those injured or ill employees and their families are really in need to receive what they are entitled to by US law.