Construction firm accused of insurance fraud, underreporting payroll by over $4M
The business owners are also accused of failing to file a workers’ comp claim following an employee injury.
A husband-and-wife team that operates a California construction company is facing multiple felony counts for insurance fraud and conspiracy for allegedly underreporting payroll by more than $4 million during a three-year period, in turn shortchanging their workers’ comp carriers, according to the California Department of Insurance (CDI).
Brian and Leslie Hill, owners of Brian Hill Construction, Inc., are also accused of failing to file a workers’ comp claim, as required by law, after an employee was injured. The company paid the medical facility directly for “minimal medical treatment,” circumventing the workers’ comp process and eliminating benefits the injured worker may have been entitled to, according to CDI.
The insurance department started investigating the business after receiving reports it paid an employee in a combination of check and cash, with the cash portion going unreported to the company’s workers’ comp carrier.
The investigation found that from July 2017-October 2019, Brain Hill Construction reported approximately $135,667 in employee payroll to State Compensation Insurance Fund, its workers’ comp carrier during the period. CDI’s investigation found that the construction firm’s payroll for the period was actually in excess of $3.6 million.
From October 2019-June 2020, Brian Hill Construction reported around $9,140 in employee payroll to Benchmark Insurance. According to CDI, the company had more than $500,000 in employee payroll from that time period.
In total, CDI reported that the company owes more than $2.5 million in premiums to the insurance companies.
Both Hills were arraigned separately during the week of July 26.
Annually, workers’ comp sees approximately $34 billion in fraud, according to the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud. Around $9 billion of that total comes from premium fraud, with the rest coming in the form of claims fraud.
Related:
- Broker gets prison time for theft of nearly $190K
- Liberty Mutual pulling BOP line in California
- California’s workers’ comp benchmark rate lowered
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