You’re unloading a pallet of boxes at the warehouse when you feel your back give out. Your supervisor helps you get to a chair and has a co-worker drive you to the ER, where you’re diagnosed with a herniated disc. But when you file your workers’ comp claim, your employer tells the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation that you never reported an injury at work. The BWC holds up your claim for 28 days or longer while they investigate this discrepancy, which worries you further. You can’t lift anything, so you can’t work, and your last paycheck is already gone.
This type of employer fraud violates the Ohio Revised Code Chapters 4121. When a claim gets denied because your employer lied about your workplace injury, you can file an appeal with a District Hearing Officer (DHO). In this article, we’ll outline what you should do if this happens to you and why you should speak to an Ohio workers’ compensation lawyer before you even file your injury claim.
Common Ways Employers Lie on Ohio Workers’ Compensation Claims
Employers deny that injuries happened at work for a wide range of reasons. Some want to avoid higher insurance premiums, while others want to protect their reputation or avoid any liability at all. For example, they’ll tell the BWC you slipped and fell at home, even though your supervisor saw you trip over a pallet in the warehouse. Other tactics include:
- Misclassification: Some state-funded employers misclassify workers as independent contractors to avoid paying workers’ comp premiums. If a roofing company calls you a “1099 contractor” but tells you when to show up, what tools to use, and how to do the job, you’re really an employee. When you get hurt falling off a ladder, the employer tells the BWC they don’t cover you because you’re “not an employee.”
- Record Falsification: Employers have been known to falsify records. ORC §2913.48(A)(3) makes it illegal to alter or destroy documents that prove your injury claim, but an employer might change the time cards to show you clocked out 30 minutes before your back injury. Between 2019 and 2024, BWC investigators uncovered a scheme where bar owners in Cuyahoga County generated nearly $4 million in illegal proceeds and failed to report employees or maintain coverage at six establishments.
- Intimidation: Some employers also intimidate injured workers into staying quiet or outright lie about how the injuries occurred. A factory supervisor might tell you, “If you file a workers’ compensation claim, I’ll make sure everyone knows you’re a troublemaker and you’ll never get another job in this town.” Or management might fabricate a narrative that you were horsing around when you got hurt, even though you were doing exactly what they trained you to do.
These strategies are regrettably prevalent. In the fiscal year 2025, the BWC’s Employer Fraud Team closed 301 cases and found $12,815,339 in fraudulent activity. Fortunately, you do have recourse if it happens to you.
What Happens to Your Ohio Workers’ Comp Claim?
When your employer lies and denies your workers’ compensation claim, you lose access to temporary total disability payments immediately. For the first 12 weeks after your accident, you should receive 72% of your weekly wages. After that, the rate drops to 66.67% of your average weekly wage. But when the BWC investigates an employer’s false denial, those checks don’t arrive. Your medical costs from the emergency room, the MRI, and physical therapy can stack up unpaid.
The BWC has 28 days from when the First Report of Injury gets filed to issue a decision allowing or denying the claim. If your employer contests it and insists you weren’t injured at work, the BWC investigates. Should it ultimately deny the workers’ compensation claim based on your employer’s false statement, you have 14 days to appeal to a District Hearing Officer at the Industrial Commission of Ohio.
If you take this step, the DHO hears your case within 45 days and issues a written order within seven days after the hearing. If it denies your injury claim, you have 14 days to appeal to a Staff Hearing Officer (SHO). If the SHO denies it, you can request a hearing before the three Industrial Commission commissioners, but they’re not required to hear every appeal. If the Commission refuses or denies your case, you have 60 days to file in the Court of Common Pleas.
Self-insured employers handle workers’ compensation claims differently. Large companies that self-insure (e.g., Walmart, Amazon) make the initial decision themselves through their third-party administrator or human resources department. They don’t go through the BWC for the initial claim decision. When a self-insured employer lies and denies your claim, they send you a written denial directly. The appeals process after that denial stays the same for both BWC and self-insured claims.
Your Rights and Protections
When your employer lies and denies your workers’ compensation claim, ORC §4123.90 protects you from retaliation if you fight back. For example, employers who lie about workplace injuries often punish those who appeal those denials. The Ohio Supreme Court decided in Onderko v. Sierra Lobo that you don’t need to prove your injury was actually work-related to win a retaliation case. You just need to show you filed or pursued a workers’ comp claim and your employer fired you, demoted you, reassigned you, or punished you because of it.
Under ORC §2745.01, injured employees can sue their employer for an intentional tort if they deliberately lied about a toxic or hazardous substance or removed an equipment safety guard. The statute creates a rebuttable presumption of intent to injure when employers engage in these two specific acts and a workplace injury results. This claim runs parallel to your workers’ comp case and lets you recover full wages, pain and suffering, and other damages that workers’ comp doesn’t cover.
Note: At Plevin & Gallucci, we don’t handle Ohio workers’ compensation retaliation claims or violations of ORC §2745.01, but can direct you to appropriate legal counsel if necessary.
Are There Any Legal Consequences for Employers Who Lie About Work-Related Injuries?
When your employer lies to the BWC about your workplace injury, they violate ORC §2913.48, which makes it illegal to “make or present or cause to be made or presented a false or misleading statement” to obtain or deny workers’ compensation benefits. Penalties include fines and jail time determined by the amount of fraud at stake.
Administrative penalties run separately from criminal prosecution. When the BWC investigates an employer’s denial, they can audit payroll records going back at least two semiannual reporting periods. Companies caught in fraud owe back premiums plus penalties. Self-insured companies that lie about workers’ comp claims can lose their self-insured status, forcing them into the state fund at higher rates.
Ohio law allows civil and criminal remedies simultaneously, so a company that falsely denies your claim can face felony charges, pay court-ordered restitution to the BWC, owe additional premiums, and lose favorable insurance status, all for the same lie.
What to Do If Your Employer Lies About Your Work-Related Injury
When your employer denies your injury was work-related or lies about your employment situation, you need to act fast. We recommend that you take the following steps:
- Use your phone to take photographs of the accident scene before anything gets moved or cleaned up.
- Get the names and personal phone numbers of co-workers who saw what happened.
- Write down exactly what your supervisor said initially and when denying the injury occurred at work, including the date, time, and any witnesses to that conversation.
- Save all text messages and emails about the incident.
- Keep copies of your medical records, the ER intake form showing you went straight from work to the hospital for medical treatment, and your doctor’s notes stating the injury matches your account of the accident.
- Call the BWC fraud hotline at 1-800-644-6292 or file online at the BWC website. (You can report anonymously.) The more details you provide about your employer’s false statements, the better the BWC’s Special Investigations Department can build a case. Tell them which supervisor made the false statement, what they said, and who witnessed it.
- See a BWC-certified doctor and follow all medical treatment plans. Gaps in your medical care give your employer ammunition to claim the injury wasn’t serious.
- Get a lawyer with in-depth expertise in all aspects of workers’ compensation law, including appeals.
The workers’ comp attorneys at Plevin & Gallucci can help you collect evidence that your injury really was job-related and represent you in hearings before the Industrial Commission. While we do not handle retaliation or other employment law issues, we can refer you to experienced counsel if this should occur.
Why You Need a Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
Most injured workers don’t realize they need an attorney until their employer denies the claim or disputes that the injury happened at work. By then, you’ve already lost valuable time to gather evidence, document witness statements, and build your case. Ohio’s workers’ compensation system has strict deadlines: you’ve got 14 days to appeal a denial to the District Hearing Officer and one year from your injury date to file your claim. Miss these deadlines, and you lose your right to lost wages and medical benefits permanently.
Employers don’t go to Industrial Commission hearings alone. They bring attorneys who’ve handled hundreds of these cases and know exactly how to attack your credibility. Your employer’s lawyer will cross-examine you about inconsistencies between what you told the ER doctor, what you wrote on the accident report, and what you’re saying now. They’ll point out that you didn’t report the workplace injury immediately or that you kept working after it happened. They’ll argue your medical records show a pre-existing condition. Without an attorney who knows how to counter these arguments, you’re fighting a losing battle.
A workers’ compensation lawyer knows what evidence the Industrial Commission needs to see. We get sworn statements from co-workers who saw the accident before your employer pressures them to stay quiet. We subpoena your employer’s safety records, incident logs, and surveillance footage before they disappear. We work with your medical providers to make sure their reports clearly state the injury is consistent with the accident you described and that it occurred at work. We know which medical experts the hearing officers trust and how to present your case so it withstands cross-examination.
The consultation costs you nothing. Plevin & Gallucci offers free case reviews, and if we take your case, we work on contingency. That means we don’t get paid unless you win. You’re already dealing with medical bills, lost wages, and an employer who’s lying about your injury. You shouldn’t have to pay upfront legal fees on top of that.
Speak to an Ohio Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
You don’t have to accept your employer’s lies about your workplace injury. Ohio law gives you the right to appeal fraudulent claim denials, protects you from retaliation when you fight back, and punishes employers who falsify records or make false statements under ORC §2913.48.
What you need is the right legal advice and representation. Plevin & Gallucci has represented clients in workers’ compensation cases since 1971. We file appeals to the Industrial Commission, gather evidence your employer tried to hide, represent you at DHO and SHO hearings, and fight to prove your injury happened at work even when your employer denies it. We’ve handled thousands of denied claims and know how to overcome false statements, altered records, and employer intimidation.
Call us at 1-855-4-PLEVIN for a free consultation. We’ll review your denial, explain your options, and start building your case immediately. Don’t let your employer’s fraud cost you the workers’ compensation benefits you’ve earned – speak with an attorney today!
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