Employer Threatened Injured Worker’s Family If Claim Was Filed

Authorities in Washington State recently reported a pair of workers compensation fraud cases, showing that the Apple State takes this crime seriously.

Worker Admits to Stealing $71,000 in Work Comp Benefits

In one case, a Bothell landscaper who claimed he was suffering from an on-the-job injury admitted to stealing state workers comp benefits.

Jose De Jesus Bernal-Ruiz pleaded guilty to second-degree theft in King County Superior Court, according to the Washington Attorney General’s Office. The 39-year-old Bothell resident also agreed to repay the Department of Labor & Industries more than $71,000 in vocational and cash benefits he should not have received.

Judge Monica Benton sentenced Bernal-Ruiz to 30 days of jail, but allowed the time to be served through community service.

Bernal-Ruiz filed a workers comp claim in October 2007 after suffering a back injury while working for a Woodinville landscaper, according to charging papers filed by the attorney general. L&I investigators determined he resumed landscape work about two years later in King County while continuing to collect vocational benefits and wage-replacement checks.

Acting on a referral from a police task force, L&I investigators obtained cashed checks that showed Bernal-Ruiz was getting paid for landscaping, yard work and gardening from January 2010 through March 2013, charging papers said. Investigators also interviewed several of his customers, who said sometimes he worked alone and sometimes with others.

During the investigation, Bernal-Ruiz told L&I that witnesses were mistaken, and he only went to job sites to observe others working.

Employer Threatened Injured Worker’s Family If Claim Was Filed

Meantime, a Pierce County landscaper has been charged with failing to pay workers comp insurance after one of his employees was injured on the job.

Kenneth Ivan Winters, 49, faces one count of doing business without workers comp insurance and seven counts of making false reports to the Department of Labor & Industries, according to charging papers. Each charge is a Class C felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The Lakewood man pleaded not guilty to the charges recently in Pierce County Superior Court. His trial was set for May 1.

According to charging papers filed by the Washington Attorney General’s office, authorities were alerted to the case when an employee filed an on-the-job injury claim while working for Winters’ business, Executive Lawn Care, in October 2012.

The worker told an L&I investigator that Winters, who was on site when the employee was hurt, threatened him and his family if he filed a claim with L&I, charging papers said.

The employee said he had worked for Winters from 2002 until the day he was injured.

Winters’ workers comp coverage had been revoked eight months earlier for failing to pay premiums. However, charging papers allege, he continued to employ the worker full time until the injury.

Winters told an L&I investigator he started the business in 1990, and at one time had up to six employees. He said business slowed and his main employee was the worker who became injured, and occasionally the worker’s brother.

As of Jan. 7, 2014, the employee’s claim has cost L&I more than $67,000 in medical expenses and lost wage payments, charging papers said.

A 2007 study found that an estimated 55,000 employers skipped out on paying $34.5 million in workers comp insurance in Washington State in 2006, causing legitimate employers to pay higher premiums.

Author Kori Shafer-Stack, Editor, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in post-injury response procedures and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: kstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.

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