A disputed Workers Compensation claim between a former V.I. government employee and the V.I. Department of Labor has led to a class-action lawsuit alleging misappropriation of funds by the local government to the tune of $40 million.
According to a lawsuit filed in District Court on St. Thomas on Oct. 17, Pete Radinson, a former V.I. Housing Authority employee, claims he injured his back in November 1997 while on the job.
Radinson, who now lives in Puerto Rico, was initially awarded medical rehabilitation benefits. But he alleges that after a lengthy process in which doctors confirmed he had a serious injury, the local Workers Compensation program never approved further payments.
He is seeking additional medical benefits, disability income benefits for temporary total disability and continuous income benefits for permanent total disability, according to his lawsuit.
But what could have a wide-reaching impact on the cash-strapped V.I. government is another claim in Radinson’s lawsuit. He is alleging that Workers Compensation contributions paid by employers in the territory are instead being illegally used to pay the government’s general obligations.
Radinson’s lawsuit says the work force in the Virgin Islands comprises more than 50,000 workers, including 13,000 government employees. The government is required to make contributions to the Workers Compensation program for its employees, which he says should be approximately $260,000 a week.
The government, the lawsuit says, "for the purpose of defrauding the beneficiaries of workers’ compensation, has not been making its contributions to the workers’ compensation insurance fund for over two years. Such actions are being done with the knowledge and consent of defendants" Gov. Charles Turnbull, Finance Commissioner Bernice Turnbull and former Labor Commissioner Sonia Jacobs Dow.
Radinson’s St. Thomas attorney, Kenth Rogers, could not be reached for comment and V.I. Attorney General Iver Stridiron did not return calls regarding the allegations.
The lawsuit, meanwhile, also claims "on information and belief" that the government owes the Government Insurance Fund, in which employers’ payments are deposited, more than $40 million.
In order to cover up the fact that the monies are missing, the government has been involved in a "fraudulent conspiracy" by delaying the payment of his and other Workers Compensation claims by saying that "files were lost, doctors’ reports were inadequate, injuries were not job-related and other varied harassment tactics," the suit claims.
Radinson is seeking a permanent injunction to keep the government from "removing, transferring, commingling, encumbering and/or converting any funds now or hereafter deposited into the Government Insurance Fund to any entity, person or persons other than the beneficiaries of workers’ compensation."
