LeAnn Mueller, owner of la Barbecue, and her wife, Allison Clem, who also manages the barbecue trailer, have been indicted in a case of workers’ compensation fraud.
Mueller and Clem are accused of defrauding Travelers Casualty Insurance Company of more than $350,000. According to an Aug. 23 Texas Department of Insurance statement, when an employee was badly injured while at work at la Barbecue in 2016, the business did not carry workers’ compensation insurance.
Clem allegedly applied for workers’ compensation insurance four days after the employee was injured and, without disclosing the incident, asked for the policy to be backdated to three months before the injury took place.
Travelers approved the claim and paid the injured worker more than $350,000 in medical fees and lost wages.
Mueller and Clem must appear in court on September 28. If they are found guilty, they may have to pay damages and reimburse Travelers double what it has paid out to the employee.
This article appears in Back to School 2022.