COUNCIL VOTES 14-0 TO FIRE WORKERS WHO COMMIT FRAUD.Byline: James Nash Staff Writer Concerned about the ballooning cost of workers' compensation workers' compensation, payment by employers for some part of the cost of injuries, or in some cases of occupational diseases, received by employees in the course of their work. claims of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. city employees, the City Council voted Tuesday to disqualify To deprive of eligibility or render unfit; to disable or incapacitate. To be disqualified is to be stripped of legal capacity. A wife would be disqualified as a juror in her husband's trial for murder due to the nature of their relationship. people convicted of workers' compensation fraud from working for the city. Workers' compensation claims are expected to cost the city $142 million this year, up $29 million from 2002-03. Although city officials have no estimate of how many of the claims are fraudulent, Councilman Dennis Zine said about 30 percent of claims statewide are not legitimate. Zine said current city laws do not forbid a person convicted of workers' compensation fraud from working for the city and do not automatically fire someone for defrauding the city. Zine's motion, which passed 14-0 Tuesday, would require both of those things. ``The bottom line is, if you're a city employee and you commit fraud, you're fired,'' Zine said. Councilwoman Wendy Greuel Wendy Greuel is President Pro Tempore of the Los Angeles City Council representing the 2nd District. Greuel was elected in 2002 to fill the remainder of the term of Councilman Joel Wachs. She was elected in her own right in 2003 and reelected in 2007. noted that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other state officials are seeking ways to contain burgeoning workers' compensation costs statewide. While reducing fraud is only part of the solution, Greuel said, it's an important first step. ``We ... need to have the other side of it, which is the enforcement side and saying that we're not going to tolerate workers' compensation fraud in the city of Los Angeles
James Nash, (213) 978-0390 james.nash(at)dailynews.com |
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