Austin, TX – Texas Mutual Insurance Company recently reported that a Travis County district court sentenced Terrance Hopkins of Tyler on workers’ compensation fraud-related charges. The court sentenced Hopkins to one year of deferred adjudication and ordered him to pay $3,673 in restitution to Texas Mutual.
Hopkins reported a job-related injury while working as a teacher for Bayes Achievement Center in Huntsville. He claimed he was unable to work as a result of the injury, and Texas Mutual began paying income benefits to him.
Meanwhile, Texas Mutual uncovered evidence that Hopkins was working as a junior college coach while receiving income benefits due to his alleged disability.
Investigators call this type of scam double-dipping because the claimant collects benefits for being too injured to work when he or she is, in fact, gainfully employed. Texas law requires claimants to contact their workers’ comp carrier when they return to work.
Left unchecked, double-dipping and other workers’ comp fraud can lead to higher premiums for all Texas employers.
Source: Texas Mutual/ECPR