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Lesniewski v. W.B. Furze Corp.2/23/1998
f Furze's reliance or the detriment it suffered, in these circumstances Furze had no right to rely on the creation of an employment status between petitioner and EJ's and that any such reliance cannot be considered reasonable.
Furze also argues that petitioner's violation of the New Jersey Insurance Fraud Prevention Act, N.J.S.A. 17:33A, et seq., by concealing his employment relationship and collecting pay "under the table," should preclude him from recovering from Furze's insurance carrier. By not being paid on the record, petitioner's employment was allegedly not discoverable for purposes of potential audits for rating purposes, thereby subjecting the carrier to a risk not otherwise foreseen. Furze argues that the restitution provisions of the Act should preclude any recovery. Assuming that there was a violation of the Act, see N.J.S.A. 17:33A-4(a), the restitution provision provides only that: "ny insurance company ... may sue ... in any court of competent jurisdiction to recover compensatory damages...." N.J.S.A. 17:33A-7(a). It does not provide for the denial of a claim for injury by the employee. We find no Legislative intent that an insurance company can avoid having to sue for damages by having the court preclude the employee from recovering workers' compensation benefits.
We also reject as unsupported by law that petitioner's recovery of unemployment benefits should preclude any workers' compensation recovery. The Judge stated he would notify the appropriate authorities, and thus appropriate remedial action can be taken without precluding recovery for so catastrophic an injury.
The judgment of the Division of Workers' Compensation is, therefore, affirmed.
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