3 Workers’ Comp Employees Fired After Bribery Probe : Investigation: They are accused of taking $5,900 for referring official business to a firm that translates for non-English speakers.

Revealing new charges of public corruption in California’s workers’ compensation program, the agency that regulates the trouble-plagued system said Friday it has fired three employees for allegedly taking bribes from a Southland firm that did business with the state.

The investigation that led to the criminal charges follows the agency’s recent probe of misconduct in California’s workers’ compensation courts. It also comes amid a probe by police into an alleged scheme by Los Angeles city employees who may have bilked taxpayers out of $1 million or more in workers’ compensation funds.

In the case disclosed Friday, the California Division of Workers’ Compensation said it fired three employees who allegedly received payoffs from Ben Medina & Associates Interpreting Services of Walnut in exchange for referring clients. The firm was used by the state to provide assistance to workers’ compensation claimants in Los Angeles and Orange counties who do not speak English.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has charged one of the employees, Elsa Garcia of Moreno Valley, with a felony count of taking bribes. Two other employees, Ernesto Cardenas of Monterey Park and Carmen Lieras of Hacienda Heights, were charged with misdemeanor counts of receiving gratuities for performing official acts.

Authorities said Garcia is accused of receiving $5,400 in payoffs, while Lieras allegedly got $400 and Cardenas allegedly got $100. All three, or members of their families, also allegedly received free use of vacation homes in Big Bear and the Las Vegas area. The three, all of whom have been with the agency seven years or more, could not be reached for comment.

The three worked as claims adjusters in a unit that handles cases from employees not properly insured by their employers. Casey L. Young, administrative director of the Division of Workers Compensation, said the bribery investigation continues at the unit, which has about 60 claims adjusters.

The owners of the interpreting firm, Ben and Elva Medina, were charged with felony counts of paying bribes. Ben Medina, reached by telephone, refused to comment.

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An agency spokesman said the state paid the Medina firm $190,000 for its services between March, 1991--as far back as the computerized records go--and last summer, when officials stopped doing business with the firm. It was not disclosed how much the firm, which has done business with the state for at least 10 years, was paid in previous years.

Young said he asked the California Department of Justice to investigate possible wrongdoing after being informed last summer that one of the department’s claims examiners received a $100 check inside a greeting card from the Medina firm. That led to the criminal charges filed earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Young said his agency’s procedures are being revised to prevent future abuses. Young said he does not believe there is a corruption problem in his division in other departments, but he said he fears that claims adjusters in the workers’ compensation field’s private sector may also be receiving payoffs from firms hoping to influence them.

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The bribery investigation is loosely related to a separate investigation, a yearlong probe by the agency into the state’s workers’ compensation courts.

In April, the agency announced that it warned five of the system’s judges about apparent misconduct and vowed to tighten its regulations.

The probe found that three Southern California judges improperly accepted free hotel accommodations in Hawaii from a doctor whose workers’ compensation cases appear before the courts. In addition, the judges also accepted free airplane tickets and accommodations for their spouses.

Officials at the California Department of Justice later reviewed the probe and found no grounds for criminal prosecution.

Separately, police are investigating whether a high-level workers’ compensation official with the city of Los Angeles, and possibly a few colleagues, defrauded taxpayers by creating fake worker injury claims.