Stop the bleeding, now! Investigate, document and combat fraud. We’re talking about Workers' Compensation Fraud and FMLA abuse.

It is estimated that Workers' Comp fraud in Ohio costs employers an average of $84,000 per case. Depending upon the degree of the offense and the amount of money involved, Workers’ Compensation fraud charges are either misdemeanors or felonies.

Effective investigation and surveillance is the best way to combat Workers’ Comp fraud. Having an experienced investigator on your side in a Workers' Comp case is invaluable. CIC’s team of trained, licensed investigators use still photos, videos, and GPS monitoring to provide you with quality surveillance evidence sufficient to support claims of fraud.

The use and abuse of FMLA leave is another headache for employers, not to mention the record keeping involved in the program. It has been said that 10% of the U.S. workforce is taking advantage of this entitlement with an average leave time of 14 days. When this leave program is abused, it costs employers money, but there is another side to this that isn’t often mentioned – the FMLA interference lawsuits that are brought against employers.

Currently, we are waiting for the outcome of three lawsuits – all involving supervisors making personal, derisive comments to employees seeking FMLA leave. Comments like ...

“we pay your insurance, we expect you to be here”,
“we are short staffed and I think it is inconsiderate of you to take time off”
“I am mad about FMLA requests in general so I am going to make sure that I find a problem with that leave request.”

The claim of FMLA interference is being taken seriously by the courts, especially if it deems that an employee may have been coerced into not applying for their earned leave.

The moral of this story is to train your managers on how to manage your leaves of absence based on your company policy and the law — and to communicate effectively — avoiding personal comments that could jeopardize the whole company.