Sunday, August 26, 2012

Worker Fraud Blog

If you have any stories of Ontario Works or the Ontario Disability Support Program workers committing fraud, kindly email me with the link. Enjoy


Social service worker kept $10,676 in disability support program overpayments


Welfare Worker Had Escort Licence (Stole Rent Cheques)


More Worker Fraud                                                                                     http://welfarelegal.blogspot.ca/2009/08/more-worker-fraud.html



Welfare Fraud Pays Well If Your A Worker At The Top http://welfarelegal.blogspot.ca/2009/05/welfare-fraud-pays-well-if-your-worker.html

 

Worker Fraud  http://welfarelegal.blogspot.ca/2009/05/worker-fraud.html



Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario
Email welfarelegal2004@hotmail.com  
Blog http://welfarelegal.blogspot.ca/

Thursday, July 19, 2012

FREE ENERGY UPGRADES

FREE Energy-Efficiency Upgrade Program (If your lucky)

Union Gas provides* FREE energy-efficiency upgrades to customers in financial need living in private homes or low-rise rental units. Upgrading the efficiency of your home keeps your house warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer and helps prevent moisture from leaking in, which can lead to a buildup of harmful moulds.

*Customers that do not live in social housing units must pay their own utilities. Low-rise units include: detached homes, semi-detached homes, row houses, townhouses and duplexes.
 http://www.uniongas.com/helpinghomes/

Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Social service worker kept $10,676 in disability support program overpayments


Pleaded guilty to defrauding the province

By MARIA CALABRESE The Nugget

A government worker preyed on the poorest in the province by stealing $10,676 in repayments from 19 different disabled residents receiving social assistance.

Catherine Chaput, 46, pleaded guilty Tuesday to defrauding the Ministry of Community and Social Services by expropriating funds from the Ontario Disability Support Program between Oct. 12, 2006 and July 16, 2009.

Chaput will be sentenced May 3 so probation services can prepare a report for the judge to learn more about her background.

North Bay Police Service arrested her in June 2010 after receiving complaints of an employee stealing funds.
The Ontario Disability Support Program helps people with disabilities pay for living expenses like food and housing, according to the ministry website.

It says support is based on family size, income, assets and housing costs and can help with benefits for drugs, dental work, vision, hearing aids, transportation costs to medical appointments and other items or services.
An agreed statement of facts says 19 residents tried to give 30 support program overpayments back to the province.

It says Chaput admitted to defrauding the province by keeping the overpayments, leaving no record for the clients on assistance who repaid the money.

North Bay Nugget - Woman gets 60 days for ODSP fraud

www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/viewer.aspx?...
9 Jun 2011 – Catherine Chaput expressed remorse to Judge Jean-Gilles Lebel Wednesday for taking the money at a ... Woman gets 60 days for ODSP fraud ...

Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Why We'll Never Get Ahead


Golden years
McKesson Chairman John Hammergren saw his pension go up by $9.48 million last year to a grand total value of more than $94.4 million — and he can start collecting a month after he turns 55. On top of that, his deferred compensation account has $2.72 million, of which $829,692 is what the SEC considers 'above-market' interest (more than 120% of the IRS' long-term AFR). Altogether, the company paid more than $1.43 million in above-market interest to its top five executives.

High flying
Barry Diller of Expedia and IAC/InterActive Corp. wins the King of the Corporate Jet award after racking up $1.3 million in personal flight time. Honorable mention: Melvin and Ellen Gordon of Tootsie-Roll Industries, who spent $1.22 million jetting back and forth from their home to the headquarters in Chicago; and Sears Holding Corp. Chief Louis D'Ambrosio, who spent $809,121 commuting between the Windy City and his home in Philadelphia. What is it about Chicago that nobody wants to live there?

Executive dude ranch
Title-insurance company Fidelity National Financial spent $462,370 entertaining its executives at the Rock Creek Cattle Co., a 28,000-acre 'working Montana ranch' that just happens to be owned by Fidelity's chairman, William P. Foley II. Fidelity National also spent $56,150 at wineries and other businesses owned by Foley, who pulled down $12.76 million in salary and other compensation last year.

Tax preparation on steroids
Busy executives need help with their accounting, but this perk has ballooned to outrageous proportions at some companies. Tom Ward of SandRidge Energy reported getting $800,000 worth of 'accounting support' from company employees last year. Embattled Chesapeake Energy Chief Aubrey McClendon, who's wrestled with margin calls and a reported billion-dollar personal commitment to company drilling projects, got $255,245 in 'personal accounting support.'

Like Fort Knox
Top executives need to be protected, but Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson took home security to a new level, spending $2.65 million on personal security for himself and his family last year. Honorable mention: Amazon spent $1.63 million protecting Jeff Bezos.

Cadillac health plans
Live Nation Entertainment spent $123,767 on health premiums for Chairman Irving Azoff — over and above what it spends on most employees. Honorable mention: UltraTech Founder and Chief Executive Arthur Zafiropoulo, who's racked up $167,279 in expenses for lifetime health care over the past two years.

Luxury swag
MGM Resorts International (MGM) gives directors up to $14,286 in 'M life express comps' — used for perks through MGM's rewards program -- at company resorts. Honorable mention: Constellation Brands Chairman Richard Sands, who maxed out his $10,203 'product allowance' at the wine and spirits company last year; and nine directors at Dell, who in addition to their $234,684 in fees, equity and perks got computers valued at $921 each.

Charity
Liberty Global gave $228,316 to groups selected by Chairman Michael Fries, including ten grand to an organization that 'gave an award to Mr. Fries.' Honorable mention: WebMD gave $1.63 million to the Rose Foundation, where Chairman Martin Wygod is a trustee; Wyndham Worldwide buys each director a $1.12 million life insurance policy, with $1.02 million of that directed toward the charity of their choice.

Golden years
McKesson Chairman John Hammergren saw his pension go up by $9.48 million last year to a grand total value of more than $94.4 million — and he can start collecting a month after he turns 55. On top of that, his deferred compensation account has $2.72 million, of which $829,692 is what the SEC considers 'above-market' interest (more than 120% of the IRS' long-term AFR). Altogether, the company paid more than $1.43 million in above-market interest to its top five executives.

Driving in style
S.L. Green Realty spent $52,891 on a personal car for Chairman Stephen Green — plus another $121,367 for a chauffeur. Footnoted.com figures that works out to $477 a day or enough to drive 375-kilometres a day for a year in a New York City cab. Honorable mention: CA Inc., which spent $115,254 on 'personal automobile use' for CEO William McCracken.

Fancy digs
The Bermuda insurers win this one hands down. Platinum Underwriters Holdings spent $440,487 on housing for Robert S. Porter, chief of its Bermuda unit, and a total of $1.22 million for Porter and three other executives combined. Honorable mention: Axis Capital Holdings, which promised Chief Executive Albert Benchimol a housing allowance of $25,491 a month, or $305,894 a year, for hardship duty on the island Shakespeare made famous with his play, 'The Tempest.'

http://money.ca.msn.com/savings-debt/gallery/the-most-outrageous-executive-perks#image=11

Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario

Friday, July 6, 2012

Another Boondoggle In The Making

Is the Ontario Government scraping the $500 million dollar Anderson/Accenture Consulting computer system boondoggle for another one.

It is all smoke and mirrors.

Social Services Solutions Modernization Project            (SSSMP)

http://www2.msdsb.net/admin/Correspondence/Secondee-Framework-Memo7.pdf

This is a statement from a ODSP worker that used to be an OW worker for 5 years.


The system generated letters to ODSP clients are extremely difficult for recipients to understand and for ODSP Caseworkers to explain.  In an effort to cover legislative requirements the system generated letters often fail to adequately explain the purpose and intent of the letter.  We are hopeful that the new computer system SSSMP will make it simpler for the client to understand what is being requested and why.

Did you catch the word hopeful?

What do you think?

Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario

Friday, June 22, 2012

Corruption Breeds Corruption


The province should have seen the technical problems with the Presto roll out coming. The auditor general even warned them.
Back in the early 1990s, Ontario was looking to revamp the technology supporting the Ontario Works social services program. The province hired an outside consulting company — Andersen Consulting — to do the work.
The project faced significant hurdles and was the subject of audits and reports in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002. The 2002 auditor general’s report, from which all the below quotes come, also summarizes the preceding reports.
After the system roll out, “most of the expected benefits to program delivery remained to be realized.” Most of the managers they interviewed said it was “a work in progress rather than a finished product at the time of its release.”
The contractor was paid $246 million by March 2002, more than the $180 million cap.
The report said “the basis for these (extra) payments continues to be questionable”.
The AG and a standing committee had already cautioned against these.
The most damning sentences are: “The new service-delivery system did not adequately support the administration of Ontario Works because of numerous unresolved systems defects. Business Transformation Project staff considered many of these defects to be emergency or high-priority items in need of repair.”
This included a failure “to provide needed information, provided it inaccurately, or provided it in a form that was not useful.”
The system also resulted in overpayment to recipients.
In 2001, the system “inexplicably” sent random payments totalling $1.2 million to 7,110 ineligible persons.
In 2001, Andersen Consulting changed its name to Accenture.
That’s the company that was awarded $250 million in 2006 to develop the Presto program by the provincial agency Metrolinx.
In other words, the company that made numerous technical errors in delivering the Ontario Works project is the same company that went on to make numerous technical errors in rolling out the Presto program.
Ontario Works’ “numerous unresolved systems defects” foreshadows the glitches with Presto.
Also, the AG noted some of the money paid out that exceeded the cap was actually to cover the contractor’s work correcting errors they had made, which the AG suggested should have been covered by the contractor.
This foreshadows the current concerns about whether Metrolinx will cover the costs incurred by Ottawa due to the Presto delay.
In terms of time delays — which Presto is also facing — the program was supposed to be rolled out in June 1999, but didn’t start until May 2001. To meet that roll out, several features were not completed.
These problems combined “do not inspire confidence and raise the possibility that other significant problems may go undetected.”
Further reports in 2004, 2006 and 2009 noted continued technical issues.
So not only did the province have a very similar experience with Accenture that it’s having now with Presto troubles, but the AG even highlighted this experience.
Part of the purpose of AG reports is to help government learn from its mistakes.
It’s clear we are owed answers.
I wanted to hear from Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig.
However, Metrolinx wouldn’t answer my questions and referred me to the transportation ministry.
A spokesman for the ministry said, “The ministry cannot comment on a procurement undertaken in the past by another ministry.”
They then referred me to a value-for-money report by advisory firm Grant Thornton, and an Accenture contract review by former Ontario Supreme Court judge Coulter Osborne. Neither paper made note of the AG report.
None of this is satisfactory.
Ottawa transit chairwoman Diane Deans told me she hadn’t heard of the AG’s report.
I’m also waiting to hear from Mayor Jim Watson. He played a role in the creation of Presto while a provincial minister.
The Metrolinx website says choosing Accenture was the conclusion of “a rigorous competitive process.”
How rigorous? Did they know about the Ontario Works problems when considering Accenture? If so, did they bring up these concerns? How were the concerns addressed?
Thankfully, the AG has already confirmed, in a letter to MPP Jack Maclaren, he’ll investigate Metrolinx.
Regardless of what he finds, this is at best poor management.
At worst, it’s politicians and bureaucrats turning a blind eye to a disaster waiting to happen.
In answer to the 2002 report, the Ministry of Community, Family and Children’s Services, which was responsible for Ontario Works, said it “believes that complex systems of this type normally require a substantial operating period in a live environment to deal with all the complexities that are inherent in the design of such large multi-user systems.”
Never accept the “it’s complex” answer. Experts are paid good money based on their ability to deal with complexity.
Technical upgrades are often afflicted with bugs. It’s unreasonable to blacklist a contractor simply because there are some kinks in their initial model.
But the problems that afflicted Ontario Works — and now Presto — seem to go beyond minor bugs.
Either we have been taken for fools or those we have tasked with safeguarding our money are fools. Take your pick.

Reader's comments »

 


For those who are interested in the political corruption of
poverty.

In a 2001 document the costs for this computer program was
400 million dollars and counting. I wonder how much it is today?
The computer program that the Tory’s bought from that USA
company Anderson Consulting now Accenture was broken when they bought it. The
widely documented and highly publicized, internet is full of evidence that
shows Anderson/Accenture has been sued all over the world because these
programs just didn’t work properly. The 64 000 dollar question is did the
Tory’s know this at the time. It would be extremely unlikely that the Tory’s
would have signed a then estimated $135.5 million contract with a company from
another country without doing a simple check of the company’s record.
Read More
http://welfarelegal.blogspot.ca/2008/06/corrupion-of-500000-missing-welfare.html

Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton. Ontario
http://welfarelegal.blogspot.c...

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Workers That Lie

Has your worker ever lied to you?

What did you do about it if anything?


Have you ever had an Internal Review decision where the worker lied in it?.

What did you do about it if anything?


Has a Social Benefits Tribunal member ever lied in a decision that they gave when denying a claim?

What did you do about it if anything?


If you don't wish to answer on this board please feel free to email me directly at'

welfarelegal2004(at)gmail(dot)com welfarelegal2004@gmail.com
Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario

On Sat, Apr 14, 2012 at 5:34 AM, Maria wrote:
Greetings Ron;
Yes I am an early riser/insomniac and 5 am is actually good for me even on a Saturday. Ron, I am writing in response to your question about workers lying and what was done. While I would have welcomed responding for the benefit of other members I am finding that lately for reasons unknown to me, my posts are not being made public. So here it is then. I applied for benefits I believe early on in 2007 and like most I went before the social benefits tribunal sadly without legal representation however I did have one personal acquaintance with me. I am glad that I did. I wont detail that meeting but will say that after being very much verbally abused and tormented to the point of actually seeking medical aid following that meeting ( I am an abuse survivor and one of my diagnosis is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; this member decided to try and needle me in the areas of abuse and without legal council I answered certain questions she should have never asked! The result having then been triggered). Once I'd been seen by medical personnel it was put in my ear that perhaps the Ontario Ombudsman should be briefed of what had happened. They were very helpful and reversed the SBT's denial in under 7 days.
So there is the background to my story. Once accepted came the waiting for arears calculations and initial payment. This is where things got really ugly. My first worker AB I shall call her, located in the city of Toronto ( I am no longer residing there) enjoyed stalling with that retroactive payment. Still when it finally did arrive some 90 days after the fact missing was a breakdown of the calculations. I had no idea how it had been calculated, whether or not OW payments had been taken into account. Would I owe any more money and was there any more that was coming because having some idea of what the payment should have been it was significantly lower. What did arrive was the standard letter outlining if I didnt agree I had 30 days to contact the SBT in writing, etc. Well how could I agree when I didnt know what had been done. So the next logical step was to contact my worker and try to have a reasonable discussion. Try, lol sure. By the time I tracked her down (3 days later), it became apparent that this worker wasnt going to be reasonable and silly me while i did not use abusive language or threaten in any way, as I grew upset my voice rose a bit in volume and in pitch and from there she got extremely rude and so began the pattern of harassment. Calling our family unit 4 times in less than one year. Asking for certain documents from us repeatedly and then claiming to not have received even those sent registered mail(yes signature receipt) , etc. Oh and that original arears? Errors had been made to the tune of $1100. That however was a long process in getting sorted. Still tensions rose and I followed up with her supervisor until one day I had a chance meeting with MPP Michael's Prue's office and met an aide of his. It was this lady that assisted myself and partner, worker and her supervisor by setting up a mediation. It was during this meeting that the worker got very indignant and screeched "no one yells at me..I take that very personally, no one yells at me and gets away with it." This mediation was agreed to following several complaints addressed to her supervisor and the Ontario Ombudsmen once again outlying that the worker for personal reasons was harassing and with holding funds, and unable to perform her job duties fairly and impartially. With that outburst, I had to consider what followed nothing shy of victorious. Her supervisor immediately brought the mediation to an end and less than 5 business days later we received confirmation that while highly irregular this worker would no longer handle our file. At that point things for our family unit improved significantly.
It takes a thick skin to take on ODSP and the SBT but it was worth it. Hope this information is useful. Maybe you might have better luck in sharing it on Fireside.
Regards,
Maria

Thank you for sharing Maria

I will send this email to fireside in its entirety.

Do workers lie when they say they didn't receive a document?

Yes they do and they do it often.

My research here in Hamilton showed that 50% of documents went missing or lost at the local Ontario Works office.

ODSP runs a close second.

One way for a worker not having to do any work on a case is to simply throw the document in the garbage.

It would be very hard to prove a worker did this but we must keep in mind it is a criminal offence and something must be done about it.

Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Tolerating inequalities
The media, along with leaders in business and the financial sector, Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney being an exception, criticized the Occupy Wall Street movement for failing to identify specific issues that the participants wished to be addressed.
This was a stance taken simply to discredit the movement, which was a protest against a culture that favours those of wealth and not a few simple, identifiable issues.
An example of this culture was recently identified in the disclosure by the Ontario Securities Commission of their inability to collect fines for violators who were prosecuted for fraudulent securities offences. Since 2005, these fines totalled $73.36 million; $690,000 has been recovered, or a total of 0.94 per cent. In contrast, Ontario Works (welfare) spends millions administering a program of auditing social assistance recipients, our most vulnerable citizens. Overpayments are added for unreported income or for overpayment of benefits that were a result of errors by Ontario Works offices themselves. These overpayments are deducted from future benefits, which often do not even cover the basic cost of food and shelter; hence the temptation to not report occasional earnings. Once off of social assistance, overpayments will be recovered from voluntary repayments or income tax refunds.
This is just one single example of a culture that tolerates such inequality simply because of it’s unwillingness to take on those with the means and power to resist.
Geoff MacGregor
Kitchener


http://www.therecord.com/opinion/letters/article/661235--tolerating-inequalities