Louisiana Workers Compensation insurance companies often hire private investigators to perform video surveillance of Workers Compensation claimants without the claimants ever realizing it. The purpose of video surveillance is to try to catch you doing activities that you’ve reported you’re unable to do. Surveillance videos are often taken on days when you’re scheduled to attend medical appointments, presumably because the private investigator has learned that you will be leaving home on that day, thus making it possible for them to follow you.

People are sometimes outraged and indignant when they realize they’re being spied upon. Some claimants have even called the police to report that a stalker was following them because it never occurred to them that the person they discovered trailing them with a camera was a private investigator hired by the Louisiana Workers Compensation insurance company.

Surveillance seems insulting, but from time to time, the private investigators video people doing very foolish or fraudulent things. Things such as covertly working while collecting Louisiana Workers Compensation benefits, or climbing a deer stand when they claim they can barely walk, or using their time off of work to pressure-wash their two-story house and long driveway.

Video like will not only spell the end of your Louisiana Workers Compensation claim, it may lead to a criminal prosecution for Workers Compensation fraud. Fraud convictions are rare, but they do happen.

If you’re involved in a Louisiana Workers Compensation claim, you should be mindful to follow the restrictions your doctor has laid out for you concerning walking, climbing, bending, lifting and other activities.

If you are able to consistently exceed those limitations, you should let your doctor know so your medical treatment can be adjusted and, if appropriate, you can begin the process of returning to work.

And finally, you should never be working, even in part-time self-employment, while receiving Louisiana Workers Compensation income benefits unless you are reporting the income from that work to the Workers Compensation insurance company using a Louisiana Department of Labor Form 1020.