Opinion ID: 2634596
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Whether employer participation constitutes a defense.

Text: The district court found that the question of whether the employer actively and knowingly participated in the alleged fraudulent or abusive acts was irrelevant to Butanda's fraudulent and abusive acts. The district court concluded that this issue was moot because the knowledge or activities of the employer would not make Butanda any more or any less responsible for her own acts. Butanda argues that the agency was precluded from finding that she committed a fraudulent or abusive act because NBP actively and knowingly participated in the alleged acts by ignoring certain information that she provided in the January 6, 1994, employment application. Specifically, she disclosed that she was prevented from lawfully working in the country because of VISA or immigration status, that she had lived in Dodge City for a year but had worked at a Dodge City restaurant 6 months prior to moving to Dodge City, and that she provided NBP with a Nebraska identification card issued during the time she claimed she was living in Kansas. The penalties assessed against Butanda were for her actions during the workers compensation proceedings. While it is true that NBP did not encourage Butanda to use a false name in the workers compensation proceeding, NBP knew or should have known that Butanda was an undocumented alien and yet was willing to look the other way when it hired her. NBP's complicity does not change the fact that Butanda filed an application for workers compensation benefits using a false identity and continued to identify herself by the assumed name under oath throughout those proceedings. The statutory language provides Butanda no defense based upon an employer's actions. It must also be emphasized that 44-5,120 proceedings are not between Butanda and the employer but are concerned with whether Butanda committed a fraudulent or abusive act in obtaining workers compensation benefits. The imposition of penalties does not benefit the employer; they are paid to a workers compensation fee fund. K.S.A. 44-5,120(k) (1993 Furse).