Burden of Proof for not recording a fabricated injury
Hello Knights,
I'm in a situation where an employee with a history of attendance issues, strange inquiries into available sick time, and the reported mechanism of injury that doesn't align with the injury that is claimed.
Based on the above and other information specific to the case, there is evidence to support that the injury is fabricated. To be clear, I don't take it likely to not record an injury and this line of inquiry is not coming from management, I would like to know.
The only information I've found about disputed cases is this LOI, which has been archived
https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/1993-06-21-3
Is it possible to provide enough documentation to support that this is not a work related injury? Is that even possible or are we up a creek?
Comments (4)
Has this been turned over to a work comp case? I have had a case manager get heavily involved in something similar and they had more resources than I did. I would see what they have to say and recommend.
I have deemed some accidents not work related based on facts. As Dan mentioned, getting your work comp provider helps as they tend to do a pretty thorough investigation. While WC and OSHA tend to be two different birds and an injury can still be an OSHA recordable but denied by WC, like I mentioned, their research can be invaluable. In the situation I had, the employee blacked out and fell hitting his head resulting in severe concussion and brain bleed. There was no indication he was doing anything at the time work related that could have caused the blackout. When WC obtained medical records, it was found that he has had a history of these instances for some time (scary part is he was a driver for us).
Turn this over to your WC carrier. They have an SIU to investigate it. If they determine it is not a compensable injury then you are covered for not putting it on your OSHA 300 log.