Employee's Two Fraudulent Medical Treatment Mileage Reimbursement Requests Basis To Deny Work Comp Recovery For Disability
02/08/08
After injury and while receiving treatment, employee submitted two mileage reimbursement requests for her physical therapy travel costs. The requests included multiple requests for therapy appointments employee did not attend. After first false submission, employer warned employee that a second false submission would be grounds for termination. After second incident, employee was suspended and subsequently fired. Administrative law judge found that “it seems unlikely that [employee], with almost 9 years on the job where she earned over $950 per week, would have intentionally tried to skim a couple of hundred dollars on false mileage claims.” Administrative law judge concluded the submission of erroneous mileage reimbursements did not amount to a lack of good faith in obtaining postinjury employment and awarded employee disability.
Employer appealed to the Workers Compensation Board, which found that employee was not entitled to award of work disability. The Board disallowed award of disability solely on its finding that employee had been terminated for cause. On appeal to the Kansas Court of Appeals, the court found there was substantial evidence to support the Board’s finding that employee was terminated for cause, despite employee’s testimony that her husband had filled out the forms which she did not review before signing and submission to employer and employer’s isolated testimony that the second false submission might have been “a mistake.”
Gasswint vs. Superior Industries International-Kansas, Inc., Docket No. 97,518 (Ks.Ct.App. February 8, 2008).
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