Workplace Safety Incentives Since 1991
There is probably nothing more aggravating for any company than seeing a workers' comp claim suddenly filed by an employee who no longer works there. Invariably the claimant is an individual who was either terminated for cause or subject to a recent lay-off. Moreover this type of claim is almost always something along the lines of a back problem or cumulative trauma; the type of injury which is difficult if not impossible to dispute.
In fact, in most states, all a workers' comp claimant needs is just one doctor verifying a medical problem exists. This would hardly seem difficult given the rampant collusion that exists between unscrupulous workers' comp attorneys and medical mills catering to these types of claims.
What's more, because post-termination claims are almost always litigated, the cash reserve placed on such a claim by the insurance carrier is astronomical. And those high reserves in turn will be linked directly to future premium increases.
Given the situation, even the safest, most employee-oriented companies feel helpless when it comes to post-termination claims. Because the former employee is no longer associated with his employer, loyalty to the company is all but nonexistent. Often in fact, the former employee has some level of resentment for no longer having a job and so is eager to get back at the company.
Most of the time, management feels its only recourse is to settle the claim as cheaply as possible. The danger, of course, is this sends a signal to other employees that filing a workers' comp claim after leaving the company is an easy way to get some extra money. But what else can the company do? Since the former employee is no longer a part of the organization, there would seem to be no way to motivate such a person from filing what is otherwise a phony claim.
Fortunately, we have an effective and proven set of solutions for this dilemma. At the company where Safety Pays was developed, a couple of "employee accountability" elements were incorporated into the program.
We found that an employee who is aware that he will remain accountable, not just to the company but to his former co-workers, for his actions after departing, will think twice before improperly taking advantage of the system.
While in the past, we experienced as many as a dozen such claims a year, there have been absolutely no post-termination claims since 1990! And other companies using these program strategies have found the same level of success. One customer recently wrote:
So if your company is not already utilizing the Safety Pays techniques we now offer to avoid post-termination claims, give us a call and we'll explain how you can easily integrate several steps into your program which can dramatically impact what was before an unsolvable problem.