Workers Comp Surveillance Tactics
It is unfortunate that when you are on worker’s compensation you still have to worry about investigators hired by insurance companies. These investigators take photos and record videos of you that they can use to create a wrong impression of your situation. Investigators hired by insurance companies, have been known to trick disabled workers into doing things that may suggest that they are faking or exaggerating their disability. For example, they may throw trash on the lawn of a worker with a back injury and take photos of the worker bending to pick up the trash.
Tactics Used By Insurance Companies To Avoid Paying You
While you are on workers’ compensation, money comes out of the insurance company’s pockets. Since most insurance companies are more focused on making profits than compensating workers, they will try to find ways to stop paying an injured worker’s benefits. They may try to delay an injured worker’s benefits until the worker sinks into financial distress. Their goal here is to make the worker so desperate for money that the worker will settle for less than they deserve.
Insurance companies can also reduce or stop paying benefits at any time. They can refuse to pay for a recommended medical procedure or cut off weekly checks. To avoid paying you what you deserve, they hire investigators to follow you when you go to an errand or to pick up your kids from school. Investigators may even stake out your house or neighborhood at any time of the day to collect “evidence”. The insurance companies may use that evidence to stop paying you or reduce the amount of benefits you get.
What To Do When You Are Being Spied On
If you are on workers’ compensation and you get the feeling that someone is watching you, you have to be smart about how you behave. You can handle insurance company spying by doing the following:
- Follow your doctor’s instructions: A doctor may tell you not overexert yourself and avoid lifting objects of a certain weight. Follow those instructions because the investigator will be waiting for you to not obey any orders from your doctor not matter how trivial it is.
- Do not interact with suspicious people: If you suspect that a certain individual is an investigator, do not talk or interact with that person. Investigators may try to gather information by talking to you. Don’t let investigators into your home or property.
- Be careful about social media: Insurance company investigators will be looking at your social media postings. So review your social media activity and privacy settings.
- Call the police: Call law enforcement if an investigator refuses to leave your property, tampers with your mail, or threatens you.
- Call a worker’s compensation lawyer: An experienced lawyer will educate you on your legal options and will help you strategize on how to deal with the investigators. Your worker’s compensation lawyer has experience dealing with insurance companies that use dirty tricks against claimants. The lawyer can negotiate aggressively with insurance companies and help protect your rights.
