Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : School Board to Review Worker’s Comp Claims : Sulphur Springs: As the district staff has grown, the number of filings has increased even faster.

The Sulphur Springs School District knows how much worker’s compensation claims can cost.

A substitute teacher, who worked for the Canyon Country school district for 10 days over the last year and a half, tripped and fell while on school grounds. The employee had been with the district for two months at the time of the accident and had drawn a total salary of $800. Since then, however, the employee has received worker’s compensation benefits of more than $25,600.

It’s that type of incident that concerns administrators trying to contain costs.

“Our liability for a substitute who is here just one or two days is the same as for a full-time employee,” said Nick Teeter, assistant superintendent of business services, summarizing the message he plans to deliver to the Sulphur Springs School District Board tonight.

The board is scheduled to review the number of claims filed by workers during the past 15 years.

In another instance, a part-time cafeteria worker filed four claims during a three-year period for tripping over objects.

The worker, who at the time of the incidents worked 2.5 hours per day and earned approximately $2,500 per year, was paid $43,712.

According to Hertz Claim Management, 160 claims have been filed successfully with the district since 1978, by 97 employees.

The increase in the number of claims has outpaced the increase in staff size, according to HCM.

From 1978 to 1984, only 0.8% of the district’s 260 employees--including part-time and substitute teachers--filed worker’s compensation claims. The district averaged two or fewer claims per year during that period.

As the district staff has grown, the number of claims filed has grown even faster. Approximately 4.5% of the district’s 325 employees filed claims between 1984 and 1988, an average of 12 to 15 per year.

The numbers continue to climb, with 5.8% of the district’s nearly 400 employees--20 to 26 per year--filing between 1988 and 1993.

The increase is attributed to several reasons, ranging from greater awareness by employees to the proliferation of advertisements by lawyers and doctors suggesting workers pursue claims.

As the number of claims has risen, so has the cost.

Ten years ago, the Sulphur Springs School District paid a $25,654 insurance premium. For the 1992-1993 school year, the district paid $181,444.

Of the 97 employees who have filed claims during the past 15 years, 23% were part-time employees.

Hertz Claim Management officials, who administrate claims on behalf of Santa Clarita Valley school districts, do not believe there are a high number of false claims in Santa Clarita.

“There really isn’t a lot of fraud up there. It’s not rampant,” said Glenn Winter, claims adjuster for HCM.