Fraudulent ID for Employment
Florida Statute Section 440.105(4)(b)9 makes it a crime to give a false written statement, driver’s license, or identification card to any person as evidence of identity to obtain employment or worker’s compensation benefits.
Many of these cases involve allegations against undocumented aliens using a false social security number or other documents to get hired for a job.
The courts have recently upheld prosecutions for merely presenting fake identification to gain employment, even if the employee never files a workers’ compensation claim. Despite the recent rulings, important defenses exist in these cases.
Attorney for Fraudulent ID for Employment in Florida
After an arrest for using false identification to gain employment or making false statements in any workers’ compensation claim, contact a lawyer in Tampa, Hillsborough County, FL, at the Sammis Law Firm.
We represent clients charged with Workers’ Compensation Fraud and other cases with serious immigration consequences for undocumented workers. The collateral consequences of entering a plea to the charges or a diversion program can be grave.
If you were arrested for fraud under section 440.105(4)(b)9, Florida Statutes (2012), in Tampa or Hillsborough County, FL, then contact an experienced attorney at the Sammis Law Firm.
We represent clients charged with employment ID fraud and all workers’ compensation fraud throughout the greater Tampa Bay area.
Contact us to discuss your case. Call (813) 250-0500.
Florida Statute Section 440.105(4)(b)9
Many of these cases arise after a wage query to the Florida Department of Revenue. The Division of Unemployment Compensation database can show whether a person used a social security number not assigned to that person to gain employment.
Many of these cases involve an illegal alien who uses a false social security number on employment eligibility verification forms.
Section 440.105 prohibits certain activities, reports, penalties, and limitations of the Workers’ Compensation Law. Florida Statute § 440.105(4)(b)9 provides that it is unlawful for any person:
- To knowingly present or cause to be presented any false, fraudulent, or misleading oral or written statement to any person;
- As evidence of identity;
- For the purpose of:
- obtaining employment; or
- filing or supporting a claim for workers’ compensation benefits.
In many of these cases, the employer knows that the identity documents were either fake or false, and therefore the employer was not defrauded or misled by the use of the documents.
So the statute provides for two alternative ways of proving the offense. First, by its terms, the statute prohibits presenting false documents to gain employment.
In State v. Brock, __ So. 3d __, 39 F.L.W. D907 (4th DCA 4/30/2014), the court concluded that it “seems clear that the legislature specifically intended to make it a felony for a person to knowingly present any false or misleading identification to obtain employment, irrespective of the existence of any worker’s compensation claim.”
Using False ID to File a Workers’ Compensation Claims
Under the second way of proving the offense, the employee uses a false id or other false statements to file a workers’ compensation claim. The statute relates to insurance coverage and insurance claims.
Section 440.105(4)(b)9 required obtaining employment or filing or supporting a claim to be connected to workers’ compensation benefits.
Therefore, if a person obtained employment by a false, fraudulent, or misleading oral or written statement as evidence of identity, and did so to secure worker compensation benefits, then this would be covered by the statute.
The Florida legislature intended to prohibit illegal aliens from using false identification information to obtain employment, and by doing so, specifically intended to close their gateway into the Florida worker’s compensation system.
The Florida Senate Interim Project Report 2004-110 (December 2003), in considering the newly-enacted section 440.105(4)(b)9,2, stated:
“As amended by Senate Bill 50-A, the law now provides that it is a felony and insurance fraud for a person to knowingly present any false or misleading oral or written statement as evidence of identity for the purpose of obtaining employment.
Therefore, if an illegal alien obtained his employment by misrepresenting his identity in order to get a job, then that person could be found to have committed insurance fraud and thus denied benefits if injured on the job.”
Id. at 6.
The report also noted:
Representatives with the Division of Insurance Fraud within the Department of Financial Services state that the purpose of this amendment was to facilitate the arrest and prosecution of illegal aliens who have lied about their identity in order to obtain employment and then falsified their on-the-job injury.
These officials state that it is often easier to prove that the illegal alien lied about his identity in order to obtain work than it is to prove the job related injury was fabricated. Many times illegal aliens are in league with unethical doctors and lawyers who bilk the workers’ compensation system, these officials claim.
Proponents of the amendment also argue that undocumented workers should not be entitled to benefits because they are not legally working and are, therefore, not lawful employees.
Id. at 6-7.
This article was last updated on Friday, July 31, 2020.
