State: Clay woman pleads guilty to workers’-compensation fraud, pays restitution

That’s according to a news release that New York State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott released on Thursday.

At her plea appearance, Klouda also paid $6,150 in restitution for her crime, Leahy Scott said.

“This defendant shamelessly abused a benefit system that honest New York employees rely on to make ends meet, all so she could fraudulently supplement her own income,” Leahy Scott said in the news release. “I will continue to use all of the resources at my disposal to investigate and put a stop to anyone defrauding the workers’-compensation system.”

Klouda pleaded guilty in Onondaga County Court and was released pending her sentencing on Feb. 1, 2018.

About the case

Klouda was injured in July 2015 while working as a bus monitor for the Oneida City School District.

An investigation by Leahy Scott found that Klouda defrauded the workers’-compensation system and stole the $6,150 in benefits by telling medical providers and testifying falsely to the workers’-compensation board that she “was not working in any capacity” after she began receiving benefits from the injury.

She was, however, employed as a day-care provider in a child-care center outside Syracuse, and as a clerk with U-Haul, Leahy Scott’s office said.

The investigation found that Klouda received the benefits between November 2015 and August of 2016, according to the news release.

Klouda had also filed paperwork with the Oneida City School District’s insurance company indicating she had not been employed.

Under state law, employers are required to maintain workers’-compensation coverage for their employees, and employees are expected to provide truthful information regarding their work activity to insurance carriers and the workers’-compensation board during the time they are receiving benefits, Leahy Scott’s office said.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com