March 15, 2019 by WorkCompWire

Austin, TX – Texas Mutual Insurance Company recently reported that a Travis County district court sentenced Thomas Bradley of Santa Fe, Texas, on workers’ compensation fraud-related charges.

Bradley reported a job-related injury while working as an operator for General Petro Chem Industry in Pearland, Texas, and claimed he was unable to work because of his injury. Texas Mutual began paying income benefits to him, but then discovered Bradley was working as an operator for another company. Investigators call this type of scam double-dipping because the claimant collects benefits for being too injured to work when he or she is, in fact, gainfully employed.

The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation prosecutor in Travis County presented the case for indictment. The court sentenced Bradley to a class A misdemeanor with one-year deferred adjudication. He will pay $9,828 in restitution to Texas Mutual.

Texas law requires claimants to contact their workers’ comp carrier when they return to work. Left unchecked, double-dipping and other workers’ comp fraud can lead to higher premiums for all Texas employers.

Source: Texas Mutual