Washington man gets jail time for workers' compensation scam
Injured people deserve fair and just compensation, especially if their injuries prevent them from working. Unfortunately, not everyone plays by the rules.
Willard Leech of Bellingham, Wash., learned that the hard way. He got jail time for illegally collecting workers' compensation for a low-back injury that supposedly prevented him from working.
The problem is Leech was working another job while collecting benefits (including climbing ladders and doing roof work). Leech also had a history of workers' compensation fraud, which led to the filing of criminal charges.
He’s been ordered to pay back $19,000 he collected in the workers' compensation scam.
Unfortunately, cases like this can have a tremendous impact on public opinion. Many people believe that workers' compensation fraud is rampant and that people who collect benefits are deadbeats who aren't really injured. But the opposite is really true. Only about 1 percent to 2 percent of workers' compensation claims are fraudulent.
Employers are much more likely to commit workers' compensation fraud, as we've written about before.