As one California man recently discovered, not properly reporting workers compensation numbers to the state is bad for business.
The Paso Robles man was arrested for allegedly failing to correctly report his employee payroll to the State Compensation Insurance Fund.
Jay Scott Silva, 53, owner of Drywall Dynamics, was arrested in April by the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office and booked into the county jail on two felony counts of workers comp insurance fraud.
“Premium insurance fraud is not a victimless crime,” said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. “Actions like Silva’s are what artificially inflate costs to insurers, consumers and California taxpayers. The Department of Insurance is committed to working with other allied agencies to combat the multi-billion dollar enterprise that is fraud.”
Paid Premium Was Reduced by $67K
The California Department of Insurance began its investigation after the Carpenters/Contractors Cooperation Committee notified the department’s Fraud Division of Silva’s improper conduct regarding employee wages. Department investigators determined Silva was incorrectly reporting employee payroll, which reduced his rate of paid premium by $67,000.
“Workers compensation premium fraud hurts hard working men and women trying to make a living and feed their families,” added David Kersh, executive director of the Carpenters/Contractors Cooperation Committee. “It hurts honest employers that play by the rules and want to create good paying employment opportunities in our communities. In addition to the issue of premium fraud, Drywall Dynamics had also cheated its workers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages. We applaud the work done by the Department of Insurance in cracking down on construction contractors that break the law.”
If convicted Silva faces a maximum of five years in jail, possible fines and full restitution. Bail was set at $30,000.
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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