Ex-Postal Worker Gets Probation in Six-Figure WC Fraud
- A former Delaware U.S. Postal Service employee who bilked nearly $100,000 in workers’ compensation benefits has been sentenced to probation.
- According to court records, Lakisha Hines was injured at work in 2006 and began receiving workers’ compensation benefits, which were her only source of income for nearly a decade.
- Prosecutors say Hines resumed working in 2016 but never told the U.S. Department of Labor, falsely claiming for the next six years that she had no source of income other than her workers’ compensation benefits.
- Hines was sentenced last week after pleading guilty in March to one count of federal employee compensation fraud, which is punishable by up to five years in prison. Hines, 46, was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to pay almost $94,000 in restitution.
- According to the Postal Service Inspector General, working elsewhere while claiming total disability is one of the most frequently attempted health claimant frauds that it investigates.
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Michigan Stamping Worker Killed Days Before Plant Closing
- A 36-year-old worker was killed after a Michigan workplace equipment failure last week, just days before everyone at the plant was due to be laid off.
- Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration confirmed the workplace fatality.
- Dexter Stamping said in April that it would close the Jackson plant on July 31, eliminating 66 jobs.
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Labor Dept Cites Heat-Deaths Among Newly Hired
- The US Labor Department took to social media on Friday to warn that “over 70% of heat-related deaths occur during a worker’s first week.”
- “Your employer is responsible for providing a safe workplace,” the agency tweeted.
- Meanwhile, new research shows a spike in workplace injuries of newly hired workers.
- Sprains, strains, lacerations and contusions make up most of the injuries reported during the research study period.
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