People hurt on the job can often bring damage claims against their employer under workers’ compensation and third parties responsible for causing the accident. Normally, workers’ compensation medical and lost wage benefits are provided to the injured worker before the third party case is resolved. Florida Statute 768.76 provides that…
It is customary in Florida for those wishing to settle workers’ compensation cases to be required to execute a voluntary resignation document. Typical resignation language will make it virtually impossible for the former employee to maintain a viable claim for unemployment compensation benefits. To avoid this consequence, language must be…
One of the most difficult concepts for our workers’ compensation clients to understand is that they will not receive any monetary compensation through Florida’s workers’ compensation system for pain and suffering. None. Zero. Nada. Zilch. The notion is counterintuitive. Compounding the difficulty in understanding, much less accepting the concept, is…
During the past 12 months we have represented a handful of former Southern Bell linemen injured in the course and scope of their employment. Each was hired by Southern Bell (subsequently Bellsouth, now AT&T) in the 1970s to repair and install telecommunication cable. They started working for Southern Bell in…
Some 80 years ago in Florida, workers’ compensation was substituted for the personal injury system as the nearly exclusive remedy for employees seeking compensation from employers for workplace accidents. The idea was that workers should not have to establish fault, a basic element of every personal injury case, in order…
People harmed in accidents by the negligence of others often have available to them other sources, such as private insurance and governmental programs, to provide lost wages and medical benefits while they wait to be compensated by the tortfeasors (at-fault parties) for their losses. Florida Statute 768.76 calls these other…
Sometimes workers are hurt in the course and scope of their employment by the negligence of third parties. Third parties in this context are entities other than those entitled to workers’ compensation immunity. Employers and some subcontractors are entitled to the immunity. Those that are not must pay damages in…
Two legislative sessions have passed since State Senator Chris Smith, a Democrat, whose District 29 encompasses parts of Broward and Palm counties, voted with Republicans to eliminate reasonable fees from the state’s workers’ compensation system for claimants’ attorneys. The purpose of the bill was to keep injured workers from being…
Florida Statute 440.205 is supposed to protect employees from being terminated for making workers’ compensation claims. Making a claim can be as simple as reporting an accident. It does not require the filing of a formal Petition for Benefits with DOAH. Proving a claim for wrongful termination can be difficult.…
Employees injured while working in accidents caused by third parties may be entitled to compensation through Florida’s workers’ compensation system and its personal injury laws. In the context of this blog, a third party is a person or company other than an injured worker’s employer. Examples include manufacturers of defective…