Former CEO of Arkansas company charged with workers’ comp fraud, kickback conspiracy
The former owner of a Rogers, Arkansas-based medical supply and billing company and its former chief executive officer have been indicted by a federal grand jury for their roles in three separate conspiracies to defraud the U.S. government and private workers’ compensation insurers. Prosecutors allege the defendants and other individuals associated with the company recruited physicians to dispense pain creams and patches to their workers’ comp patients by offering them a split of the profits collected from successfully billing insurers, typically 50 percent. KNWA/KFTA
The Illinois Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a consumer food packaging company seeking to limit its potential payout, should it be among the rising ranks of hundreds of employers hit with class actions under Illinois’ biometrics privacy law. The lawsuit was essentially like thousands of other class actions brought against Illinois employers in the past seven years under the law, typically asserting employers failed to obtain written consent from employees before requiring them to scan fingerprints or other biometric identifiers to verify their identity when punching in and out of work shifts, or accessing secure areas within a workplace. The court recently rejected arguments brought by a nursing home group that such claims brought within the employment context should be restricted by the state’s workers’ compensation law. Cook County Record
New York woman sentenced for stealing $15K in workers comp payable to her dead mother
A 55-year-old Wayne County, New York woman has been sentenced after she was found stealing more than $15,000 in workers’ compensation benefits by abusing her role as power of attorney for her late mother. MyTwinTiers
‘There’s never been a more confusing time for mask mandates’
Businesses have to decide whether to ask employees and customers to wear masks. Here’s a plan for responding to consumers and employees grappling with how they should internalize the changing guidance. Inc.