​A Southern California applicant was sentenced to 30 days in county jail after pleading guilty to a workers’ compensation fraud charge for misrepresenting his limitations, according to Probe Information Services.

Julio Cesar Gomez filed a claim for an injury he said he sustained while working for Silver Creek Industries. Gomez said he was bending over removing nails and felt a strain as he straightened his body.

Gomez testified during a deposition that he had not performed yardwork, automotive repair work or lifted anything weighing more than 15 pounds since the date of his injury. During a medical evaluation, Gomez denied engaging in rigorous activities and said he was unable to work because of pain.

Probe Information Services said it obtained surveillance footage of Gomez performing physically demanding activities including digging holes with a shovel, climbing in and out of the holes, jumping over a fence, installing a roof liner inside a vehicle, carrying a full tool bag and carrying automotive parts weighing more than 15 pounds.

A medical evaluator said there were substantial differences between Gomez’s subjective complaints and what the video footage showed. Based on the video, the evaluator said Gomez didn’t require any work restrictions and wasn’t entitled to benefits.

The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office filed three felony workers’ compensation fraud charges against Gomez, who pleaded guilty to one count on May 3. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and ordered to pay restitution totaling $30,000

​An Applicant who used fake identification to file a claim for an injury that he was also faking was sentenced Tuesday to a year in jail for felony workers’ compensation fraud, according to Intercare Holdings Insurance Services.

Juan Zendejas Barron, of Watsonville, pleaded guilty in March to two counts of insurance fraud, one count of perjury and one count of using a false identity to file a claim, all felonies, Intercare said. The Santa Cruz County Superior Court sentenced him Tuesday to one year in jail, a $1,200 fine and ordered him to pay $124,027 in restitution in monthly installments.

Barron filed a claim against Ramco Enterprises in September 2015 for an alleged injury to his groin, legs, back and abdomen using the name and Social Security number of Octavio Guadarrama. Prosecutors learned that he had used a false identify after the real Guardarrama showed up at a court hearing wondering why he had been charged with fraud.

Investigators learned that Barron had also filed a claim under his own name for an injury to the same body part against a different employer, Intercare said.

Division of Workers’ Compensation online records show that he filed a claim against Christopher Ranch for injury to his respiratory system and skin in 2015, and against Silver Mountain Vineyards for an injury to his head, brain, neck and back in 2012.

Barron was ordered to report to authorities by June 1 to begin his jail term.

California’s Supreme Court on Monday laid down three-prong test to determine whether a person is an employee of an independent contractor.

The three-part test the court created in Dynamex Operations West Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County (Lee) asks whether a worker:

• Is free from control and direction in the performance of work.
• Is performing work outside the scope of the hiring entity’s business.
• Is customarily engaged in an independently established trade.

If the answer to any of the three questions is “no,” a person is an employee subject to various labor law protections, including minimum wages, and meal and rest periods. 

Though the high court proposed the test for the purposes of wage violations, the new test could also be useful to determine whether a person is an employee who has to be covered by workers’ compensation. Such application could have far reaching implications, especially in the general-special employer scenarios.

​To read the full test of the decision click here: Decision 

A federal judge dismissed most of the claims in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a California law requiring the Department of Industrial Relations to stay liens filed by, or on behalf of, criminally charged providers, but allowed plaintiffs the opportunity to file an amended complaint later this month.

U.S. District Court Judge George H. Wu, in an order posted to the court’s website on Friday, also rejected a motion asking him to hold the department in contempt for allegedly violating a December order requiring the agency to allow claimants to argue that a stay was inappropriately applied to a particular lien.

Wu said he did not have a problem with Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board judges continuing cases and allowing the department’s Anti-Fraud Unit to submit evidence it used when freezing a lien.

Wu’s order in Vanguard Medical Management Billing et al. v. Christine Baker et al. marks the end for claims that the lien stay constitutes an improper governmental taking of property or violates the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, which he dismissed with prejudice.

​To read the entire order, click here: Order