Elsen Cheng, of SRTK’s Orange County office, recently received a take nothing on a hotly contested 132a claim. The applicant had filed a workers’ compensation claim that was settled via C&R containing agreement between the parties the employee would not apply for re-employment. Thereafter the worker re-applied for employment at a different location, where he failed to disclose his previous employment with the employer in the application process. Due to a computer glitch, the employer was not able to identify his previous employment at the first location, and was re-hired. He was then terminated when the non-disclosure was discovered.
Elsen produced case law and testimony, and convinced the judge the employee was not terminated because he had previously filed a comp injury, but because the employer was allowed to correct a mistake in hiring based on non-disclosure of material information in the hiring process. The employer witness testified that, had he known the applicant had previously been employed, he would not have been hired. Elsen’s great work saved the employer tens of thousands of dollars in claimed benefits.