Happy Wednesday, dear readers!

Do any of you have files with Rashad Said’s Advanced Vocational Institute involved?  Well Mr. Said has been charged by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office with several counts of workers’ compensation fraud.

As alleged, Mr. Said gave cash payments to workers instead of providing actual training, and also giving kickbacks to counselors directing workers to his business.

If you have any voucher that have been paid to Rashad Said or Rashad Said’s Advanced Vocational Institute, you may consider reaching out to deputy district attorney Julie Sousa to report your own experiences.

Speaking generally, vocational rehabilitation retraining is not a landscape devoid of troubles.  For example, the iLearn institute, which provided vocational rehabilitation training in the San Francisco area, closed some time in 2018 or 2019.  In November of 2018, the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education issued a citation and fine of $100,000.  It is not known to your humble blogger if the fine was paid or contested.

It seems like a small amount, right?  $6,000 paid out a voucher and the forgotten about.  But it’s not a small amount – these “benefits” pile up.  Imagine if every claim you have is automatically increased in exposure by $6,000 because bad actors have an incentive to litigate entitlement to a voucher.  And that’s not all – if the injured worker collects the supplemental return to work fund of $5,000 from the state’s coffers, those funds have to be replenished by employers and insurers.  The price tag is more than $6k in the long run.

Your humble blogger wishes the best of luck to the Santa Clara District Attorney and urges his beloved readers to remain vigilant when something fishy appears with respect to these vouchers!