County out $14K for toilet paper injury (Tax dollars at work)

The Chicago Suntimes ^ | November 19, 2009 | Lisa Donovan

[lex33]

Cook County taxpayers will write a $14,022 check to a custodian who claims she twice injured her back by "reaching around to pick up a piece of toilet paper," according to county documents.

More than 1,000 county workers file workers compensation claims each year, but this one got the attention of County Commissioner Bridget Gainer, who spent 11 years in the insurance industry.

"Do I think it's excessive? I think we end up compensating employees for illnesses and injuries they bring with them to work," she said after Wednesday's meeting in which the settlement was approved. Gainer stressed she she didn't know anything about the custodian's case.

Mary Lait, the worker injured on the job in October 1997 and March 1998, remains a custodian in the sheriff's office, according to sheriff's spokesman Steve Patterson.

The state's attorney's staff defends the county in these claims. Deputy State's Attorney Pat Driscoll had no details about the Lait case.

Driscoll said anyone filing a claim must prove the injury happened in the line of duty.

[RebelTXRose]

You simply cannot make up the crazy workers’ comp claims:

There is a lady out there who is getting about $90/wk because she was traumatized walking thru a GNAT cloud at work! PERMANENT PARTIAL DISABILITY!!!

[nina0113]

I know someone who makes enough to live on off the permanent disability caused by the stress of commuting 60 miles each way to work.

[WestTexasWend]

[SJSAMPLE]

I’ve seen it hundreds of times.

One particular lady interviewed for the packaging line, but I’d noticed that her papers showed she had a history of WC claims.

I told my boss not to hire her, but he said we needed people and couldn’t be picky.

First day on the job, I get a call to come out to line #36 and there she was, laying on the ground and moaning about her back.

If you look hard enough, you can see 90% of these people coming from a mile off.

[lex33]

Love that photo!

[cripplecreek]

Somebody sure got a reach around.

[suthener]

Where I work, an employee said that his back started hurting after he straightened up from bending over taking a measurement. The bill so far? With the back surgery, $71,000. He doesn’t have to prove he hurt his back at work, we have to prove he didn’t.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

That really chaps my a$$.

[RebelTXRose]

Makes you wonder how they can look themselves in the mirror!

[Fresh Wind]

A friend told me about a job-site situation in which a black guy claimed to have found a drawing of a man hanging from a noose inside a port-a-potty. He claimed racism, sued, and ended up collecting a bucket of cash.

I realize that this is not quite the same as a faked workplace injury, but the motivation is the same.

[GovernmentShrinker]

This sort of crap is why so many employers prefer to hire illegals.

[Eva]

Years ago, I was thinking about trying another career and took a careers course at the local community college. One student, a young girl, told the class that she just wanted to work for her father who was a workmen's comp lawyer, who ran his own office complete with clerks to file the claims and doctors to do the exams. She explained that the clerks were trained to fill out the claim forms in such a way to maximize the claims and then the doctors were right there to verify and sign the claims.

I also knew a lady who was not even a citizen, who was collecting on a workmen's comp claim for one job and while working another job, both under false names because she was a Canadian and owed a lot of money under her real name. Add to that, she was a lesbian, married in Canada to an American woman.

[SJSAMPLE]

We had the same problem with local doctors.
Since we were paying the insurance, we were able to legally require that the employees went to OUR doctor.

Our claims dropped 60% the first month.

Then, we began using “modified duty”, where “injured” employees were required to work within the scope of their abilities, doing odd jobs, cleaning, etc. That cut claims another 15% because very few wanted to stand around cleaning when they could be on the line with their buddies.

A few people kept coming back with more and more excuses. Finally, rather than pay out the initial claim deductible $2000 and wait for the claim amounts to hit the next deductible level ($20,000), we cleared out a room and put a single chair in it. “Problem” cases were required to sit in the room all day, earning 100% pay, doing NOTHING. It drove them crazy and most broke after the first day and returned to duty.

We even hired PIs to scope out the “injured” and catch them mowing the lawn, fixing their roofs, bringing in the crops, etc. Criminal penalties and fines for those assholes.