For an accident to be compensable (or covered) under the workers’ compensation system, it must happen in the course and scope of the employment. Generally, where the employment has fixed time and location requirements, accidents off the premises during lunch are not compensable. In other words, these accidents do not…
Chapter 440, the body of statutes governing Florida’s workers’ compensation system, places on the injured worker, also known as the Claimant, the burden of proving the accident caused his or her injuries. Almost always, medical evidence is required to meet the burden. Certain elements must be established to meet the…
Florida employers who maintain workers’ compensation insurance in accordance with the requirements of Chapter 440 of the Florida Statutes, generally are immune from being sued civilly for damages by employees injured in the course and scope of their employment. See Florida Statute 440.11. (For an explanation of the differences between…
Permanent Total Disability (PTD) (440.15(1)) is the most valuable wage loss benefit available under Florida’s workers’ compensation system. Unlike Temporary Partial Disability (TPD) (440.15(4)) and Temporary Total Disability (TTD) (440.15(2)), monetary benefits that are available for only a short period of time, PTD can last for years and includes an…
For too long, Florida employers and their workers’ compensation insurance carriers have been able to accuse employees of insurance fraud without consequence if proven wrong. No longer. Until the recent decision in Carrillo v. Case Engineering Inc./Claims Center, (Fla. 1st DCA 2-11-2011), employers and their insurance carriers were free to…
Florida Statute Section 440.09(4)(a) provides that an employee shall not be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits if the employee has intentionally or knowingly engaged in any of the acts described in s. 440.15 for the purpose of securing workers’ compensation benefits. Knowingly presenting false ID to obtain employment is an…
Not surprisingly, in Jennifer Kauffman v. Community Inclusions, Inc./Guarantee Insurance Company, filed on March 23, 2011, the Florida First District Court of Appeal issued an opinion finding constitutional a Florida law, Statute 440.34, that is designed to limit the ability of injured workers to obtain workers’ compensation benefits. The Jennifer…
Since the establishment of a workers’ compensation system in Florida more than 80 years ago, business and insurance interests have steadily tried to whittle away workers’ rights with varying degrees of success. The high water mark for them arrived in the late 1990s with the election of Jeb Bush as…
Neither railway workers nor seamen injured on the job are covered by any state workers’ compensation system. However, they are not left unprotected. Both are covered by systems that in many respects surpass anything available under any state workers’ compensation system. Railway workers are covered by the Federal Employees’ Liabilities…
It is common practice to seek PIP benefits for an insured who has paid money out-of-pocket to satisfy a workers’ compensation lien. Is the PIP carrier let off the hook for payments when the workers’ compensation lien is waived? According to the holding in Cannino v. Progressive Insurance Co., Fla:…