Disheartened on a Friday

I hope Bowzer doesn't succumb to temptation...

It's an unfortunate, but all too real, headline.

"Applicants' Attorney Allegedly Paid $110,000 in Kickbacks," is going to draw a lot of attention to WorkCompCentral today and probably for a few days into next week.


I'm not going to detail the allegations - that's what WorkCompCentral gets paid for (yes, this is premium, independently sourced content).


But the lead paragraph says it all:


"The U.S. Attorney's Office for Northern California expects to prosecute an applicants' attorney for his role in a scheme involving an allegedly corrupt union boss, kickbacks for client referrals, banking violations, laundering proceeds from medical marijuana dispensaries, tax fraud schemes and even the infamous Hells Angels, according to documents unsealed Wednesday by the U.S. District Court for Northern California."


The story details an exhaustive scheme that just grew and grew and grew - greed spreading like ivy up a wall. Eventually there's no more wall to grow on. When that happens the ivy spreads on the ground, consuming everything in its path until someone comes along and trims it back.


It's not that a lawyer was involved in a corrupt enterprise - that happens all the time, in all sorts of legal specialties (and some not so special).


It's not that a union boss was the lynch-pin in this ongoing criminal venture either - those sorts of things date way back, unfortunately, into union history and span the nation.


And it's not that fraud is at the center of all of the various allegations made by the U.S. Attorney's Office - we read about fraud all of the time in workers' compensation, across all segments.


No, the disappointment I felt when I got up this morning to read that headline was tied to my belief that workers' compensation can and does good for society - and that there are people that take advantage of the benevolent nature of the system to cheat others hits hard when the profligate greed associated with all of the schemes involved is so pervasive.


I work really hard at telling the world about workers' compensation. We're not perfect, far from it. But I truly believe that the vast majority of us working in the system are here because we have found our calling.


We have rules and regulations, we have boundaries of operation, we have people that need to be served, and we have a system to preserve.


There are people that are dependent on workers' compensation to help get their lives turned around. Sometimes we fail at that mission. Sometimes we have resounding successes. Most of the time everyone just does what they need to do for their contribution to the system.


But it's the wild antics of a few who failed social studies in grade school, whose consciences are very, very small, and whose narcissism overrides any sentiments of guilt.


In criminal psychology circles, those people are known as anti-socials. They have no respect for rules and regulations because they are above them. They serve only themselves.


Certainly society is full of anti-socials in nearly every slice of humanity. That's why we have a criminal justice system.


The attorneys for those accused are likely strategizing damage control, and working hard now to reduce the exposure of their clients. If there's any sense of remorse, which I would not expect with an anti-social, we'll see some sort of apology from the perpetrators.

I don't hold out much hope for that, and unfortunately we all know there's more where this all came from.


It's good that these busts occur. It's good that such schemes are exposed and publicized. It's good that bad people go to jail.


Nevertheless, it's disheartening. I'm going to try and not let this ruin my day, my mission, my goals.