PTD, the acronym for Permanent Total Disability, is the only post-MMI (maximum medical improvement; § 440.02(10) Florida Statutes) workers’ compensation wage loss benefit available to Florida’s injured workers. A Claimant has four ways of qualifying for PTD. The first way is by proving at least one of the injuries listed in § 440.15(1)(b) (2015). Doing so…
The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) prohibits the employment of illegal aliens in the United States. See Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. NLRB, 535 U.S. 137, 147, 122 S.Ct. 1275, 152 L.Ed.2d 271 (2002). To accomplish this goal, the IRCA requires employers to verify the identity and eligibility…
Most Florida hospitals and many doctors have contracts with health insurance companies to provide services to covered insureds at discounted rates. The arrangement requires those providers to bill the carriers for covered services without seeking payment from insureds through self-pay and other sources such as third party liability insurance. Some contracts allow…
Florida employers with four or more employees must maintain workers’ compensation insurance or a statutorily prescribed alternative. §440.055 Florida Statutes (2015). An employer who fails to maintain the coverage may nevertheless be sued by an injured employee for workers’ compensation benefits or, in the alternative, the employee may proceed at common law to recover damages for injury…
In a state (Florida) that does not require motorists to maintain Bodily Injury (BI) insurance, having Uninsured Motorist (UM)/Underinsured Motorist (UIM) coverage, within the prescripts of Florida Statute 627.727, is the best protection against uninsured/underinsured drivers. Per 627.727(1), UM/UIM is designed “for the protection of persons insured thereunder who are legally entitled to recover…
In previous blogs, we addressed the first and second elements of a Section 440.205 Florida Statutes wrongful retaliation/termination cause of action. This blog will address prong the third element. §440.205 reads as follows: Coercion of employees.—No employer shall discharge, threaten to discharge, intimidate, or coerce any employee by reason of such employee’s…
Florida’s workers’ compensation system was created, in 1935, with the goal of providing benefits to injured workers without the delay of having to prove the accident was caused by the employer’s negligence. In exchange for this no-fault system, employers were granted immunity from being liable for negligence. The system, however, did not afford absolute immunity. There…
Our previous blog addressed the first prong of a Florida Statute §440.205 workers’ compensation retaliation/wrongful termination cause of action (COA). §440.205 provides: Coercion of employees.—No employer shall discharge, threaten to discharge, intimidate, or coerce any employee by reason of such employee’s valid claim for compensation or attempt to claim compensation under…
Florida is an at-will employment state. The doctrine often allows employers to end employment relationships without suffering any negative consequences besides paying unemployment compensation benefits. While the doctrine creates a climate of vulnerability, Florida employers do not have absolute immunity for every termination decision. They can find themselves in hot water for harassing or terminating an employee because…
I have blogged often to express my displeasure and dismay with the slow and sometimes immediate erosion of benefits available to injured workers under Florida’s workers’ compensation system. This blog highlights one example. The Florida Legislature enacted the state’s first “Workman’s” Compensation Act in 1935. While I have not done a case study of…