Nearly $32 million in grants have been awarded to Calif. law enforcement in order to assist with theinvestigation and prosecution of workers’ compensation insurancefraud.

“Workers’compensation insurance fraud is a costly problem inCalifornia,” said Calif. Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. “As theeconomy struggles to recover, fraud of this type creates anadditional strain on the system. We must protect those injuredworkers who need care and compensation so they can return to workin a timely manner and bring to justice those who seek to cheat thesystem.”

Dave Althausen, deputy press secretary for the CaliforniaDepartment of Insurance, said the most common workers’ comp schemesinvolve an employee filing a claim stating that he or she wasinjured on the job, receiving treatment for their injury as well asworkers’ compensation benefits, and then is seen performingeveryday activities that are not necessarily in line with the claimant’s injury.

“We have seen claimants coaching little league, lifting bags ofequipment, and even landscaping houses,” Althausen said. “In theSan Francisco Bay area earlier this year, a woman claimed she wasinjured on the job, was receiving treatment and workers’compensation insurance payments, yet was seen competing in a5K.”

This funding is awarded based on assessments of Calif. employersdetermined by the Fraud Assessment Commission on an annual basis.Recommendations are based on each county’s performance the previousyear and the overall decisions are influenced by Jones, the FraudAssessment Commission, and the Workers’ Compensation Grant ReviewPanel.