employer fraud Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Workers' Compensation Watch

Today’s post was shared by Gelman on Workplace Injuries and comes from ehstoday.com. Mr. Jon Gelman is a respected colleague who focuses on workers’ compensation in New Jersey.

As the post points out, it is unusual, but not unheard of, for an employer to be charged and sentenced for Occupational Safety and Health Act violations. In fact, in 2012, I wrote about a situation that happened at a Nebraska grain elevator that caused a worker’s death and resulted in a misdemeanor charge, including a $100,000 fine and 2 years of probation for the employer.

The article below is important for a number of reasons. First, two truck drivers, Joey Sutter and Charles Sittig, died as a result of chemical exposure to hydrogen sulfide through their work. Next, the company’s former president, Matthew Lawrence Bowman, was sentenced to serve 12 months in federal prison and also fined $5,000, according to the article. As president of his company, Port Arthur Chemical and Environmental Services LLC (PACES) of Port Arthur, Texas, Bowman even directed some of the violations. And these actions were “criminally negligent,” according to John M. Bales, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas.

Although no amount of prison time or fines can bring the drivers back to their loved ones, it is good to see someone being held at least a little bit accountable for the dangers of this company’s practices.

Matthew Lawrence Bowman, the former president of Port Arthur Chemical and Environmental Services LLC (PACES) finally had his (sentencing) day in court. Bowman pleaded guilty on May 9 to violating the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act). It is rare for individuals to be prosecuted and sentenced to violations of the OSH Act.Bowman admitted to not properly protecting PACES employees from exposure to hydrogen sulfide, a poisonous gas resulting in the death of truck driver Joey Sutter on Dec. 18, 2008. In addition, Bowman admitted to directing employees to falsify transportation documents to conceal that the wastewater was coming from PACES after a disposal facility put a moratorium on all wastewater shipments from PACES after received loads containing hydrogen sulfide. He was sentenced to serve 12 months in federal prison on Oct. 28 by U.S. District Judge Marcia Crone. Bowman was also ordered to pay fines in the amount of $5,000.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Robert G. Dreher called the sentence “a just punishment” for Bowman’s actions, which placed workers “at unacceptable risk and had fatal consequences.”

“The Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to vigorously investigate and prosecute those who violate the laws enacted to ensure the safety of workers handling hazardous materials and to prevent the kind of tragedies that…

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A recent article from Wisconsin colleague Tom Domer points out that workers’ compensation insurance is required, i.e., mandatory, and not optional in most states for almost all businesses. Nebraska and Iowa make insurance coverage mandatory for employers, too. And it’s not fair or realistic for employers to skimp on covering their employees workers’ comp. That’s one of the ways taxpayers can get stuck with medical bills – when a business cheats its employees and the public by not carrying workers’ compensation insurance.

Companies are trying to cut costs and demand more productivity in these bad economic times. Unfortunately, one way “start up” and other employers are attempting to cut costs is by not insuring their workers under workers’ compensation. It is simply not acceptable to allow these employers to forego this fundamental protection for their employees. We field calls daily from workers whose employers do not have workers’ compensation, who tell their employees to file claims under group insurance policies (which are shrinking) or Medicare or Medicaid. This “cost shifting” to some kind of public assistance is simply not acceptable.

Failing to hold employers accountable for not having workers’ compensation coverage puts workers at risk. It also violates fundamental fairness. It would be like not holding drivers who have basic liability insurance accountable, because uninsured drivers put everyone else on the road at financial risk. Many states (North Carolina, Texas, California, Michigan, to name a few) are undergoing fundamental workers’ compensation “reform” in the name of cost saving. One of those “cost savings” should not be the failure to purchase workers’ compensation for their employees. Every employee in Wisconsin that employs even one person who is paid $500 in a quarter must have workers’ compensation insurance, and any employer who employs at least three employees( regardless of what they are paid) must have workers’ compensation insurance.

It is simply not acceptable to allow these employers to forego this fundamental protection for their employees.

Wisconsin has an “Uninsured Employer’s Fund” for those employees whose employers should have insurance but do not. Although the Fund pursues these scofflaw employers vigorously, many employees fall through the cracks, and we all pay the price through medical expense filtering down to Medicaid, Medicare, Badger Care, or some other public assistance.

Workers' Compensation Watch

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Category Archives: employer fraud

Former President of Chemical Company Sentenced for Federal Crimes Related to Employee Deaths

“Open for Business” In Wisconsin Does Not Mean An Option To Provide Workers’ Comp For Workers

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