Some 223 Toronto Transit Commission employees have been dismissed or have resigned or retired to avoid dismissal as part of an ongoing investigation into benefits fraud, the organization has announced. The TTC began investigating its benefits claims in 2014 following a tip that suggested service provider Healthy Fit Inc. was providing receipts to TTC employees with inflated […]
The Toronto Transit Commission condoned the benefits fraud involving millions of dollars for orthopedic claims, the union representing workers is arguing in a number of grievances challenging their terminations. In an interim arbitration award earlier this month, arbitrator Lorne Slotnick outlined how the TTC is facing 103 grievances over the firings of workers connected to […]
While it might come as a surprise to some plan members, what may seem like a freebie or giveaway with the purchase of a medical device or service can actually count as benefits abuse. And in some case, offering incentives to customers will get a provider delisted by an insurance company. This week, for example, Shelley […]
The ongoing benefits fraud case at the Toronto Transit Commission continues to unfold as the owner of an orthotics store had pleaded guilty in the case. According to the TTC, Adam Smith, the owner of Healthy Fit Inc., pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud over $5,000 this week. The court sentenced him to two […]
A Peel Regional Police officer is facing fraud charges over employee benefits claims. On Wednesday, Peel police announced that, following a four-month investigation, they had charged Const. Noel Santiago with two counts of fraud under $5,000 in relation to employee benefits claims. Police have suspended Santiago, who’s to appear in court on Sept. 11, with […]
A labour arbitrator has served notice that employees who commit benefit fraud will have a hard time avoiding dismissal. Earlier this summer, arbitrator Eli Gedalof upheld the termination of Diana Spokiene, an associate professor of German studies at York University, for submitting more than 100 false benefit claims totalling more than $8,000 for paramedical services, including physiotherapy […]
The City of Toronto’s auditor general is raising yet more concerns about benefits fraud after discovering employees may have shopped around for doctors to get prescriptions for excessive amounts of erectile dysfunction drugs. In an update this month to her October 2016 report on potentially excessive and unusual drug claims by employees to the city’s […]
The Toronto Transit Commission has confirmed that more than 100 employees have either resigned or been dismissed as part of a benefits fraud investigation. In February, the public transit provider said it had dismissed 73 employees in connection with what it described as a multimillion-dollar benefits fraud scheme. That number is up to 82, with […]
Toronto city councillors are asking questions after the municipality’s auditor general raised red flags about several questionable benefits claims, including the case of an employee who submitted claims for 66 pairs of orthotics and orthopedic shoes between 2013 and 2015. “We’re supposed to believe that a child needed 66 pairs of orthotics in a year?” asked Coun. […]
Thirty-one employees at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto have been fired in relation to “irregularities in some employee health benefit claims,” spokesperson Leslie Shepherd confirmed in an email to Benefits Canada. The irregularities were discovered during a routine audit, and approximately $200,000 worth of claims were found to be in breach of the hospital’s code of […]