Former BIW employee sentenced, fined for workers' comp fraud
File Photo / Tim Greenway
Bath Iron Works has been awarded a contract with the U.S. Navy.
A former employee of Bath Iron Works was sentenced on Thursday to three years of probation for filing a false document in relation to a workers' compensation claim, U.S. Attorney Darcie N. McElwee announced.
The defendant, 63-year-old Michael Collins of Scarborough, pleaded guilty to the charge in June. Besides the three-year probation, he was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge D. Brock Hornby to pay $12,682.74 in restitution to BIW.
According to court records, Collins was employed as an electrician at the shipyard. He filed a claim under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act in early 2018, claiming he suffered a work-related injury that left him totally disabled.
BIW did not contest the claim, and Collins began receiving benefit payments and medical treatment payments. In September 2018, the adjuster handling the claim became suspicious that Collins may have been working while continuing to claim he was totally disabled.
The adjuster then hired a private investigator, who conducted surveillance on numerous dates throughout the next several months. The surveillance revealed that Collins was working as a self-employed electrician.
In January 2019, Collins falsely claimed on a required form that he did not have any earnings from employment or self-employment, causing BIW to suffer a loss of $12,682.74, according to the court.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General.
Bath Iron Works shared a response with Mainebiz via email on Friday.
“We build ships for the United States Navy,” said Jon Fitzgerald, vice president and corporation counsel for Bath Iron Works. “Workers’ compensation fraud affects the cost of building ships, so the taxpayers are the victims of fraud unless it is uncovered.”
In this case, the matter was reported to the Department of Defense Inspector General and the costs associated with the fraudulent payments were refunded to the federal government, Fitzgerald said, adding, “We appreciate that the U.S. Attorney was responsive to the need to address and deter this conduct as well as for protecting the taxpayers’ dollars.”
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