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Pressure prompted Solomon claim cancellation?

April 21, 2012

By DANIEL BLACKBURN

James App

Former Paso Robles Police Chief Lisa Solomon has withdrawn her claim for workers’ compensation, a claim which city officials had promised they would not contest, City Manager James App confirmed in a terse email Saturday.

The claim could have cost city taxpayers as much as $3 million if Solomon were to live to age 80, according to actuarial estimates.

Solomon resigned earlier this month after a five year stint as the city’s top cop after allegations of sexual misbehavior and unlawful ticket quota practices were reported by CalCoastNews.

The sudden withdrawal of the claim came in the wake of questions directed at App and Mayor Duane Picanco by a man who identified himself in an email as James Bailey. (CalCoastNews has been unable to contact Bailey but has received copies of the email exchange.) App could not be reached immediately for comment.

The writer asked App: “(I) have yet to find the financial impact Paso Robles will incur from the uncontested workers’ comp that was part of Ms. Solomon’s deal to ‘resign’ her position as police chief… what about the uncontested workers’ comp disability claim for mental and physical stress related to this sordid affair?  Is there a dollar value or a time limit imposed on this claim? Or is it an open check, from which Ms Solomon can receive benefits forever?

“I have found out that Paso Robles Worker’s Compensation plan is a self-insured plan, meaning the employer (city taxpayers) assumes the financial risk for providing benefits to its employees.  In general terms, this implies the city pays the cost of each claim ‘out of pocket’ as they are incurred instead of paying a fixed premium to an insurance carrier or to a state sponsored workers’ comp fund.  This would further imply that payments would come directly from the city’s general fund.

“Given that this claim was uncontested, does this also mean anything and everything about it is a secret, and the residents of Paso Robles will never know just how much this will cost them?  If truly, there are no dollar or time limitations on this claim, then couldn’t she draw on this for years?”

Bailey then asked, “Don’t the citizens of this city deserve this knowledge?”

App, in a return email to Bailey Saturday morning — 12 hours after Bailey’s questions — wrote: “The claim has been withdrawn.”

When Solomon left her post, she and other city officials blamed news reports of her alleged transgressions for causing her undue stress, and as part of her so-called “retirement” at age 43, the city council agreed that her claim for workers’ comp would not be contested. Additionally, she was given $250,000 in walking money, and a confidentiality agreement so far has prevented either her or the city from revealing the contents of a city investigation into her alleged behavior.


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I suspect that they had been wondering what they were going to do about all this for a long time. To just agree to WC without a challenge when they know the facts behind her stress claim and a new council can revisit the issue is a problem for them. Solomon will never get a job in LE again unless she is willing to proclaim her innocence and that means challenging the allegations and any questions brought forth in the investigation in an open forum rather than covering it up. This means she would have collected WC until her retirement kicked in. It was going to be a lose/lose for the current officials and for Solomon if the WC was challenged after the elections by a competent council working for the people rather than their crony friends so they told her to withdraw the claim. It still all needs to be looked into anyway because of the 250K and the pending lawsuits.


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Form 5020, Employers Report of Occupational Injury or Illness (California Workers Comp form), box number 39 asks “other wages NOT reported as wages or salary”…Don’tcha just wonder what dollar amount was put in there by the employer in this withdrawn claim?


Form 5020, EROI form, box number 25 asks “SPECIFIC activity employee was performing when event or exposure was occured”. Hmmmm…..makes you wonder what was written here as well, doesn’t it?


Form 5020, EROI form, box number 26 asks “How injury/illness occurred; Describe sequence of events, specify object or exposure which directly produced the illness or injury”….another Hmmmm…


Form 5020, EROI form, box number 17 asks “Date of Employers knowledge; date of illness or injury”. When would that have been?


Form 5020, EROI form, box number 18 asks “Date Employee was Provided Claim Form” Again, when would that have been?


“Any Person who causes or makes cause to be made any knowingly false or fraudulent material statement or material representation for the purpose of obtaining or denying workers compensation benefits or payments is guilty of a FELONY.”


“California Law requires employers to report within 5 (five) days of knowledge EVERY occupational injury or illness which results in lost time BEYOND the date of incident or requires medical treatment beyond first aid…” Five days, huh?


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Danika,


Here’s the agreement between Solomon and the City.


http://www.scribd.com/doc/86226063/Separation-agreement-between-Lisa-Solomon-and-the-City-of-Paso-Robles


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Good for her, now she can get on with her new career, singing in honky-tonk Karaoke bars and performing lap dances.

It would have been better if she was granted the WC claim and then indicted by the State AG for fraud…


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Filing a false claim has serious consequences.


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A petition to the Workers Comp Division of the Department of Insurance to investigate the Lisa Solomon Workers Comp claim has been started at


http://WWW.CPRN2012.ORG


You do not need to be a subscriber to complete this petition. Just go to the website, click on Petitions, fill out the boxes and SEND. Thank you in advance for your invaluable help.


This comment was also posted on The Tribune’s site.


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Note: my posted comment on the Tribune was immediately deleted. Obviously, someone there has issues with CPRN2012 having the state investigate this workers comp claim. An interesting decision.


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Dear Paso Robles, Thank you so much for the entertainment, priceless.


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Hello Vagabond. I think public pressure can do a lot to rein in corrupt governments.


In this case, I think it was the question itself that brought about Solomon “deciding” to drop the WC claim.


After all, LOTS of questions have been asked before. But this was the first time (in my experience) that a question, with pressing follow-up questions, that made app, solomon and the city council blink.


Doesn’t it make you want to ask that question (in a different forum or format) again?


It’s like watching little boys tease a monkey at the zoo. If they get a reaction, there is just something in little boys that make them want to do it again to see if they get the same reaction.


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It’s like watching an episode of Reno 911…except it’s real…and very costly.


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Can you wait until the movie comes out? It ought to be hum-dinger? Polls are now open on who should get the various roles.


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Beth Chapman (“Dog the Bounty Hunter”) to play Lisa Solomon.


Gary Busey to play James App.


The Three Stooges to play the three city council members to be voted out this November.


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LOL, Beth Chapman to play Lisa Solomon, LMAOROF – priceless.


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If Erland Van Lidth were still alive, he would be perfect to play App:


http://bavatuesdays.com/files/2010/04/Picture-9.png


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Very hard to believe one persons email changed the whole picture! Let’ all go for it… citymanager@prcity.com


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It’s time to end these confidentiality agreements with public employees. IF THE PUBLIC PAYS THE SALARY THEN THE PUBLIC TAXPAYER HAS EVERY RIGHT TO KNOW!


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I absolutely agree. Where’s the “transparency” that everybody keeps talking about? This is government carried out IN SECRET.


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Thank you, Bailey, for stepping forward and asking Jim App some good questions. Your presence is much appreciated!


Back to the basics of the CalCoast article, how do we really know that the W/C application has really been dropped? Are we to trust Jim App’s word for it? After all his shenanigans, I would certainly hope not!


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