Bipartisan effort leads to Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance fraud forfeiture.
MADISON, Wis – The Construction Business Group today commended the bipartisan effort between Governor Evers and the Wisconsin Legislature that led to today’s announcement of a $33,000 insurance fraud forfeiture. The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) was given authority to investigate acts of insurance fraud as part of the 2023 Wisconsin state budget (2023 Wisconsin Act 19), which was passed by the Republican controlled legislature and signed into law by Democratic Governor Tony Evers. The fraud forfeiture came after an OCI investigation led to the discovery of a Milwaukee area business that misrepresent themselves to their worker’s compensation insurer, resulting in over $100,000 in underpayments.
“Worker’s compensation insurance plays a vital role in ensuring our state’s workers and employers are protected in cases of injuries or illnesses sustained at work,” said Robb Kahl, executive director of the Construction Business Group. “Fraud against worker’s compensation plans leads to higher rates for those who play by the rules and puts the financial stability of this needed safety net at risk. On behalf of our state’s union workers and union contractors, we at the Construction Business Group applaud the bipartisan efforts that provided the OCI another tool to ensure both employers and employees are protected by worker’s compensation insurance.”
According to an OCI press release, “Sawan Kumar owns a transportation service in the Milwaukee area but represented his business as a clerical dispatch business on his application to his workers compensation insurer. As a result, he paid much lower insurance premiums than he should have been. Between 2016 and 2022, he continued to make various misrepresentations to his insurer that resulted in $101,690 underpayments. OCI issued a fraud forfeiture under our new statutory authority resulting in a total of $33,000. Forfeitures like these go to the state’s Common School Fund, which provides books, computers, and other library materials to schools across Wisconsin.”
