2 Workers Charged for Making Fake Work Injury Compensation Claims; 1 Rehearsed His Fall Down the Stairs

Two workers have been found guilty of filing false compensation claims for work injuries, The Straits Times reported.

The workers involved, Rohoman Md Shimul and Singh Arshdeep, were both sentenced to four weeks in prison for making false claims under the Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA). 

Rohoman’s employer, Kim Bock Contractor, had filed a claim for an injury to his right hand, which, according to his account, he suffered outside of work hours.

The claim was rejected by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on the basis that the injury was not related to workplace activities. Thereafter, another report was made that attributed his injury to work.

MOM investigated the incident and discovered that Rohoman’s new claim was inconsistent with the one given to his supervisors, contributing to his guilty conviction.

Singh’s story is more dramatic. He filed his claim in 2019 for injuries after falling down a flight of stairs carrying a wooden box; however, closed-circuit television footage revealed that the fall had in fact been pre-planned. 

According to MOM, “when other workers appeared in the vicinity, he slowly leaned backwards, threw the wooden box behind him, and fell down the staircase”.

Later, it was discovered that Singh hadn’t even been asked to carry the box.

He was also sentenced to three weeks of imprisonment for making false statements to MOM investigation officers. The two sentences will be served concurrently.

What is the WICA?

The Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA) covers local and foreign individuals who are employed by a contract of service or apprenticeship, and enables them to claim for compensation for any work injuries suffered.

The Act is designed such that workers do not need the involvement of a lawyer to file a claim, which can often be troublesome and expensive. It was last amended in September 2019 to provide workers with wider compensation coverage and shorter waiting times.

Workers seeking compensation significantly greater than WICA’s claim ceiling, however, will still need to make a civil lawsuit and argue that their employer or a third party is culpable, according to TODAYonline.

However, advocacy group Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) has argued that migrant workers may be too unfamiliar with how to file a claim, or they may have already been repatriated by the time the claim is processed.

They further raised concerns that employers may still choose to downplay any workplace safety inadequacies in accident reports they file to avoid culpability, or to contest that the accident occurred during work at all. Both of these can make workers’ attempts to seek injury compensation even more difficult.

Workplace Injuries Decreased in 2020 Due to COVID-19

According to CNA, workplace injuries in the first half of 2020 fell significantly to 4,996 cases, from 6,630 in 2019. 

This is likely due to the moratorium on workplace activities imposed as part of the Circuit Breaker, as MOM explains. Employers’ unwillingness to report workplace injuries can also mean the number of injuries is an under-representation.

The number of fatal cases remained similar, with 16 reported compared to 17 in 2019.

To improve workplace safety, more measures will be introduced to penalise businesses engaging in unsafe practices, ranging from releasing the workplace safety data of companies to removing unsafe contractors from consideration in public construction tenders.

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