Employer Fined $5,000.00 in Workers' Compensation Case
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It is common practice for employers to hire private detectives to conduct videotaped surveillance of injured workers.
These private detectives follow injured workers around, usually in paneled trucks or vans, with their videotape running, trying to catch on film any activity that indicates that the injured worker is capable of physical activity.
This procedure backfired on an Asheville hospital which ordered surveillance of a workers' compensation claimant. The hospital was fined $5,000.00 for not disclosing favorable video footage to the claimant's lawyer.
The footage, which the employer hid from the injured worker's lawyer, showed a nurse who had suffered compensable arm and neck problems, sitting in her car after a failed attempt to go back to work. The injured nurse was crying and grimacing in pain, and guarding her injured arm.
The tape, which would have helped corroborate the claimant's claim of continuing disability was not turned over until the claimant's lawyer discovered the missing tapes.
The Industrial Commission granted the injured nurse's request for continued benefits and held that the defendant-employer "unreasonably defended this matter based upon stubborn, unfounded litigiousness." As a result, the Industrial Commission ordered the defendant-employer to pay the claimant's attorney's fees for defending the action to terminate the worker's benefits.
In addition, the employer hospital was ordered to pay the North Carolina Industrial Commission $5,000.00 as a sanction: "For failing to timely disclose the ... surveillance videotape." The Industrial Commission wrote that the defendant: "Knew about the ... videotape and failed to make it available to the plaintiff and her attorney in a timely manner even upon proper request." The Industrial Commission held that such conduct showed bad faith.
This case demonstrates the length to which employers will sometimes go to avoid paying a valid claim for an injured worker. It also shows the advantage of having a lawyer to fight for the worker in these cases.
If you or a loved one have a question about workers' compensation, please contact us by filling out the form on this page.
For more infromation on this subject matter, please refer to the section on Worker's Compensation.