Latest Stories from Morgan’s Tips of the Week
Morgan’s Tip of the Week – Late Reporting of COVID Claims

Greetings, I have had several questions about a claimant reporting an alleged work-related COVID-19 claim well beyond the usual 30 day mark. While the WC statute says a claim must be reported within 30 days of when a claimant knows (or finds out from a doctor that it is work related), there is an exception […]
Morgan’s Tip of the Week – 120 Day Rule Backdoor Escape Hatch

Greetings, There has been a recent slew of cases addressing the 120 day rule, and estoppel arguments regarding the Employer/Carrier’s failure to deny part or all of a claim or injury. However, none of these cases had arguments or issues regarding the “backdoor” caveat to the 120 day rule. If E/C doesn’t deny the accident […]
Morgan’s Tip of the Week – New Unemployment Assistance

Greetings and happy 2021! On December 30, the Federal Budget was signed into law (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021), and as a part of that bill was the Coronavirus relief measures (Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021) The bill is 5,393 pages, it is not a real page-turner. The bill provides for $600 stimulus […]
Morgan’s Tip of the Week – Year End PTD Cleanup Issues

Greetings, A few reminder notes for the PTD season: Do not forget to adjust any PTD supplemental benefits effective 1/1/21. Date of accident after 10/1/2003- it’s a 3% increase. The formula is 3% x number of years since the accident x comp rate. PTD supplemental benefits end at age 62 (unless the accident prevented them […]
Morgan’s Tip of the Week – Max CR and Possible Marijuana Changes

Greetings, The Dept. of Financial Services released the FL WC maximum compensation rate effective 1/1/21, its $1,011. This is for dates of accident after January 1. Also, a reminder that base PTD benefits plus PTD supplements cannot exceed the max CR for the year that it is paid. Memo attached on the new max CR. […]
Morgan’s Tip of the Week – FL WC Annual Stats

Greetings, Don’t forget to scour everything you received on Wednesday and over the break for 1-time change requests. Watch out for anything referencing “an alternative” doctor or anything citing 440.13(2)(f). You must respond by 4:59 pm today, Monday, 11/30/20. DOAH has released its annual report, the usual treasure trove of statistics about the FL WC […]
Morgan’s Tip of the Week – Change of Seasons/Change of Doctors

Greetings, hard to believe Thanksgiving is next week. It’s been a year to remember, but don’t forget to stay on the look-out for 1-time changes. As a reminder, any requests received before 5 pm EST on Wednesday before Thanksgiving (11/25) need to be answered by 5 pm on Monday after Thanksgiving (11/30). Also: “Received” means […]
Morgan’s Tip of the Week – PFB Trends

Greetings, hope everyone is doing well. Litigation is slowly starting to increase back to pre-pandemic levels, and so is the flood of PFB’s. Since April, the number of new litigated WC claims in Florida is down 13% compared to 2019. However, since September its only down 7%, so the numbers are increasing. Along with that […]
Morgan’s Tip of the Week – MCC and Specific Diagnosis

Greetings, the 1st DCA issued a ruling last week clarifying-ish Major Contributing Cause and the 120 day rule in Sanchez v. Yellow Transport, 1D19-4231. The crux of the case was the E/C had authorized treatment over the years for the “lumbar spine”, and had never delineated that they were accepting a lumbar strain or any […]