It's crucial to report injuries in the workplace. It's much more important than you think it is.

Recently, the State requested an explanation from a company that manufactures plastic about why it did not report workplace injuries to the State's Workers' Compensation Board, which could result in their being fined upwards of $52,500. According to state investigators, at least twenty-one injuries have not been reported in a timely manner. Any work-related injury must be reported in less than ten days, according to state law.

The company must attend hearings to prove that proper protocol was followed and submit proof of their submission to the Workers' Compensation Board for all injuries. However, evidence showed that several cases were a year old and still hadn't been reported properly, far surpassing the ten day limit. This is an unprecedented case.

The board's lawyers examined the history of the law and could not find an instance where a company was punished for failure to report job-related injuries since the inception of the law in 1944. An attorney for the plastic manufacturing company was unable to find any similar cases. This specific lawyer is an expert in Workers' Compensation law.

As yet, there have been no statements by any of the board members regarding the allegations. A human resources official for the company, however, commented the firm looked forward to attending the appointed hearing, hoping to bring closure to the unsavory issue. They also find hope in how the information already collected has been evaluated, and are hoping that they can discuss the allegations in further detail at the hearing.

Accusations were brought by workers' unions and also individual workers that the under reporting of injuries might have actually been intentional and not an oversight at all. A large amount of employees are viewing the company's actions as an effort to save money. In the cases that weren't reported, if the worker couldn't work, the company continued to pay them, as well as paying for the expenses necessary to get them back on their feet.

The problem comes in when the company doesn't report the incident and therefore avoid the cost of compensating a worker whose injuries may continue to recur for many years after the initial accident, as well as getting out of an inspection. After the union's allegations, the company filed 60 more cases of non-related injuries, some that went back to 1994, with the Worker's Compensation Board. The company is defending the late reportings stating that it misunderstood the law surrounding these particular injuries.

The company may be fined by Workers' Compensation for up to $2500 for each case that was not reported within the specified legal 10 days after the date of injury. On top of that, the company will be susceptible to criminal allegations. The division of criminal fraud in the attorney general's office was alerted to the matter by the Workers' Compensation Board.

Further investigations ensue into the present accusations against the company, including four new cases involving employees who allegedly had all or part of their fingers severed while on the job.

Accusations were made of the company accepting payments made on a particular worker's health insurance plan, even though they canceled her plan after her injury.

The Director of the United Steelworkers of America has proposed that a full corporate investigation be conducted based upon the findings at the one plant. Four more of the plastic manufacturing plants can be found in Indiana, and Illinois.

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