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Articles Posted in Workers’ Compensation

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Jeffrey P. Gale, P.A. // Gap in Protection for Florida Uber Eats Bicycle Riders

We represent a hardworking young college student who was struck by a hit-and-run vehicle and left for dead by the side of the road while delivering for Uber Eats on his bicycle. He spent a week in Ryder Trauma Center, a leading catastrophic care facility, with life threatening injuries ranging…

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Jeffrey P. Gale, P.A. // Recent First DCA Ruling in a Workers’ Compensation Case May Open Floodgates for More Personal Injury Cases

Many experts believe that the  First District Court of Appeal’s April 5, 2019 ruling in Sedgwick CMS v. Tamatha Valcourt-Williams will open the floodgates for more civil negligence lawsuits brought by employees against employers. Because of the immunity provisions of section 440.11, Florida Statutes, such lawsuits have always been exceedingly rare in Florida.…

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Jeffrey P. Gale, P.A. // Florida Workers’ Compensation Immunity and the Dangerous Instrumentality Doctrine

With few exceptions, section 440.11, Florida Statutes grants immunity from tort liability to employers and the co-employees of Florida workers injured in the course and scope of their employment. In most cases, the doctrine precludes relief outside of the workers’ compensation system. Florida’s dangerous instrumentality doctrine is a common law doctrine which provides that the owner…

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Jeffrey P. Gale, P.A. // Here We Go Again — Florida’s Workers’ Compensation Law Under Assault

Here’s a simple truth: An injured worker (also known as a “claimant”) proceeding “without the aid of competent counsel” is as “helpless as a turtle on its back,” Davis v. Keeto, Inc., 463 So.2d 368, 371 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985) (quoting Neylon v. Ford Motor Co., 27 N.J.Super. 511, 99 A.2d 664, 665…

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Jeffrey P. Gale, P.A. // The Peculiar Matter of Split Sample (Specimen) Urine Collection in Florida Workers’ Compensation Cases

Employers and their workers’ compensation insurance companies (E/C) relish the opportunity to deny benefits to employees injured on the job. One of the most powerful weapons in their ample arsenal is the section 440.09(3), Florida Statutes drug defense. It reads as follows: (3) Compensation is not payable if the injury was…

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Jeffrey P. Gale, P.A. // Key to Defeating Florida Workers’ Compensation Drug Defense is Preventing Presumption of Impairment

A popular defense utilized by Florida employers and their workers’ compensation insurance carriers (E/C) to keep from having to pay workers’ compensation benefits is the drug defense under section 440.09(3), Florida Statutes. In pertinent part, the section provides as follows: (3) Compensation is not payable if the injury was occasioned…

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Jeffrey P. Gale, P.A. // Florida Workers’ Compensation Law Interplay Between Catastrophic Injuries and Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) and Permanent Total Disability (PTD) Benefits

Permanent Total Disability (PTD) — defined in section 440.15(1), Florida Statutes — is an indemnity (monetary) benefit sometimes available under Florida’s Workers’ Compensation System to the state’s most severely injured workers. Unless the worker has suffered an injury of the type as set forth in 440.15(1)(b), commonly referred to as a “catastrophic injury,”…

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Jeffrey P. Gale, P.A. // Carrier’s Obligation to Pay Medical Expenses Despite Drug/Alcohol Impairment Defense

Under Florida law, if a workplace injury was occasioned primarily by the influence of alcohol or drugs, workers’ compensation benefits can be denied. Section 440.09(3), Florida Statutes (2018) (Interestingly, while this section provides that “Compensation is not payable,” with section 440.02(7) defining “Compensation” as “the money allowance payable to an…

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Jeffrey P. Gale, P.A. // Workers’ Compensation Temporary Partial Disability Benefits Following Relocation

Per section 440.15(4), Florida Statues, Temporary Partial Disability (TPD) benefits are due “if the medical conditions resulting from the accident create restrictions on the injured employee’s ability to return to work … or an employee returns to work with the restrictions resulting from the accident and is earning wages less than…

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Jeffrey P. Gale, P.A. // Entitlement to Florida Workers’ Compensation Lost Wages Following Job Termination

It is not uncommon for injured workers to be terminated from their jobs post-accident. There was a time when Florida law required employers to make every effort within reason to reemploy their injured workers. While that admirable public policy was scrapped some 15 years ago, section 440.205, Florida Statutes does prohibit employers…

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