Think an employee’s lying? Check Facebook
December 7, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: Communication, Complaint investigation, HR Tech, In this week's e-newsletter - Tech
There’s a new way to catch dishonest employees who try to bilk their employers out of money:
Coming across a public confession on the Internet.
Several companies have recently used info found on sites like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn to fight fraudulent workers’ compensation claims.
Sometimes, employees will blatantly brag about fooling companies. More often, though, they’ll describe strenuous activities they’ve recently participated in (playing sports, for example) while they’re supposedly too injured to work. For example:
- A Los Angeles-area warehouse worker filed a work-related back injury claim — but then posted on Facebook about bowling tournaments he’d competed in, after the injury.
- Dollar Tree had paid out over $100,000 over a year and a half to an employee with back problems. Her MySpace page listed a side job as a wedding photographer. Suspicious, the company sent representatives to conduct surveillance, and the employee was spotted lugging heavy camera equipment with no signs of back pain.
- Claims investigation service GlobalOptions Group even reports finding an employee who posted videos of himself competing in a rodeo while he was supposedly too injured to get out of bed.
Tags: Facebook, MySpace, workers comp
December 8th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
While these stories are entertaining, I find it often to be the case that the fact finder still finds a way to find for the employee. The exception of course is the rodeo example – if a judge found in favor of that feller, it would be worth the cost of appeal. On lesser scenarios though, I’ve heard a fact finder claim more times than once that the employee was just having a good day. I view the costs of workers comp fraud as a mandatory business tax to make it more palatable.
December 8th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
We had an employee with a claim of over $200,000 (including surgery) on his back who had 2 or 3 previous claims with former employers. The workers comp investigator had pictures of him standing and sanding on a car and documentation of him going every day at the same time to the place of business. That employer was a friend and the the man was bragging to friends that he was taking in over $1,000 a week with this pay (cash) and compensation combined.
The mediator ruled for the employee. She said it could not be proven that he was getting paid. Paid or not, if he could do that work for a friend, he was capable of doing the work for us – not claiming disability.
This claim doubled our premium!!
December 8th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
This article leads people to believe that finding this information and doing surveilance works. My experience is the same as E. Martinez. I actually have had pictures and viseo and the court didn’t rule in favor of the company.
Sad but true.
December 8th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Why would you post your activities publicly if you lied about your whereabouts?? You’re just asking for it.
On another note, hat about privacy? Not that I’m siding with the stupid employees, but I’m sure most, if not all, argued that it’s an invasioin of privacy. Is the legal system keeping up with technology?? I guess since it’s posted publicly then there is no issue, but it may cause issue in other cases….just curious.
December 10th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
How do you get facebook info about your employees? I’m not about to become friends with them but would love to see whats going on!
December 10th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
1. The majority of Facebook profiles are set to “friends only”, so good luck trying to view the posts.
2. Our IT dept has Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, etc blocked. This was done after a security audit.
December 15th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
You can’t expect privacy on an online, anything; unless you have the privacy setting selected and you don’t “friend” any of your coworkers.
December 16th, 2009 at 10:36 am
The person can be a friend of one of your friends and you can see what they post on their page. As Susanna said, nothing is private when it is on the Internet. Copies can be printed off from the page, as well.
December 16th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Lisa:
The only way you can see the page of a friend’s friend is if they have specifically enabled their privacy to allow “friends of friends”.
December 17th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Mar, I’m not trying to burst your bubble or anything, but it is still possible to come across this information without a single privacy setting being altered. I’m sure you’ve heard of the idea of six degrees of separation, haven’t you? All it really takes is one “wistle-blower” on a person’s friend list, and trust me, I’ve had employees come to me with printouts of “evidence” to be used against another employee. Happens all the time. Now I’m getting a headache just thinking about it.