OH Attorney Found Guilty of Comp Fraud after Hiring Injured Worker

When you have an accident at work, you can sometimes claim it under your Workers’ Compensation benefits. After you claim it, you may have to get a lawyer to help you out in court if need be. And once that happens, if you picked a certain Ohio lawyer, you might even walk away with a job.

According to the Claims Journal, the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) conducted an investigation into a Medina attorney. They say she conspired to commit fraud by hiring an injured worker whom she was representing for a workers’ comp case.

Attorney Natalie Grubb pled guilty to fraud in a Franklin County courtroom on January 28^th and has since repaid almost $15,000 in restitution.

“As an attorney, Mrs. Grubb had to be well aware that she could not argue her client was unable to work while simultaneously serving as that client’s employer,” said BWC Administrator/CEO Steve Buehrer. “This case is another reminder that we must be vigilant about putting an end to fraud being committed by anyone involved in the workers’ comp system.”

BWC’s Special Investigations Department (SID) opened the investigation after they got a tip that the injured worker was working for her attorney while receiving disability benefits.

Investigators found that Grubb allowed the injured worker that she was representing to do work in her office as an assistant. The worker was receiving temporary total disability benefits after being injured during the course of her job as a truck driver. The two plotted to hide the work activity and earnings so she could continue getting benefits. The employment with Grubb was confirmed by a statement form the injured worker herself and from interviews with former employees.

Originally, Grubb denied the allegations and gave a false statement to BWC; however, she later pled guilty to a misdemeanor count of complicity to commit workers’ compensation fraud. Grubb paid $7,709.92 in restitution and $6,731.55 in investigative costs upfront, plus another $500 fine that was ordered by the Franklin County Municipal Court.

Grubb is being sent to the Disciplinary Counsel of the Ohio Supreme Court.