False Statements in Job Applications Do Not Necessarily Make Employment Contracts Illegal and Bar Workers Compensations Benefits

Courts have been paying particular attention to the issue of false statements in employment applications.  Most courts continue to hold that such statements do not make the employment contract invalid. Benefits are barred only if (1) the employee knowingly and willfully made a false representation as to his or her physical condition; (2) the employer relied on the representation and the reliance was a substantial factor in the hiring; and (3) there was a causal relation between the false representation and the injury.

  
In one 2008 Florida case, Fast Tract Framing, Inc. v. Caraballo, 994 So. 2d 355 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1st Dist. 2008), determined that under Florida's special definition of "wages" (see Fla. Stat. § 440.02(28)), only the income that was actually reported to the federal government could be considered in the computation of an injured worker's average weekly wage.  Since many undocumented workers fail to file returns, they would have no average weekly wage that could be used to compute disability benefits.  The full effect of Fast Tract Framing has been diminished, however, by two subsequent decisions – J.B.D. Bros' and Masonry, Inc. v. Miranda, 2010 Fla. App. LEXIS 544 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1st Dist., Jan. 25, 2010) and Rene Stone Work Corp. v. Gonzalez, 2010 Fla. App. LEXIS 543 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1st Dist., Jan. 25, 2010) [see Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law Chapter 66, § 66.03[4][c] n38].