Millwright must do right

Washington’s Department of Labor and Industries has ordered a 37-year-old Dallas, Ore., man to repay nearly $43,000 after an investigation revealed he had collected workers’ compensation benefits illegally.

Shannon Wiley, formerly of Lacey, Wash., worked as a millwright in 1995, 1999 and again in 2001. Those were time periods during which he reported to L&I that he was unable to work and was collecting disability benefits from Washington state.

The investigation of Wiley began with an anonymous tip that he was working as a millwright, the same type of work he was doing when he was injured in June 1989 at a company Shelton. The investigation concluded that Wiley had fraudulently received $28,000 in time-loss benefits — the money L&I pays to partially compensate injured workers for wages lost as a result a job-related injury or illness.The judgment against Wiley includes more than $14,000 in penalties.