Talk about a beauty of a workers’ comp case
Are people really getting dumber …
… or does social media just make it seem that way?
Take this recent case: 22-year-old Shawna Palmer of Riverside, California, worked for Stater Brothers, a grocery store chain. Palmer claimed she fractured a toe on her left foot while working.
She complained she couldn’t place any weight on the foot or wear shoes for extended periods. A doctor prescribed her orthopedic shoes and crutches, and wrote her employer a letter excusing her from work.
Palmer collected workers’ compensation benefits for months, telling her employer she couldn’t work. But that certianly didn’t prevent her from keeping busy.
She signed up for not one, but two beauty pageants, including the 2014 Miss Toyota Long Beach Grand Prix contest. Miss Palmer wore high heels, to boot.
Someone took videos and posted them on YouTube. Her employer caught wind of the videos, which show Palmer strutting in high heels without any signs of pain or discomfort.
Stater Brothers reported the apparent workers’ comp fraud and Palmer was arrested. If she’s convicted, she faces up to a year in prison, three years of probation and a $24,000 fine.
Who knows: In the pre-Twitter/YouTube/Facebook days, she might’ve gotten away with it!
Free Training & Resources
Further Reading
Hospitality employers in California take note: Several cities in The Golden State have minimum wage increases for hotel employees soon taki...
Low-dollar-amount errors that appear on Form W-2 won’t lead to penalties. That’s the official word contained in final regulations from ...
Maine’s Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program began paying benefits on May 1, 2026. The state DOL runs the program with Af...
Employers that don’t want to require employees to turn in receipts for business travel reimbursement can rely on per diem rates. T...
Be sure your company gets the latest version of Form I-9. The new edition went into circulation on August 1, 2023, with its use required sh...
Thinking about adding tips and overtime compensation to box 14 of Form W-2 for TY 2025? Two recent IRS notices have provided insight. Th...