Blog
Morgan’s Tip of the week- What does Idiopathic mean now?
Greetings, Well maybe I don’t know what I thought I knew. Since the 1989 Grimes case, the law on idiopathic accidents had been fairly well settled. Idiopathic accidents are when a claimant is just walking and their knee gives way, or they pass out, suffer a seizure etc… These types of accident do not “arise […]
Morgan’s Tip of the Week- Post-Hospital issues
Greetings, Several issues often pop up after a claimant is seen at the hospital following a work accident. Here are a couple of scenarios, resulting issues and possible solutions: Employer doesn’t know the claimant went to the hospital– Sometimes the Employer may be unaware the accident occurred. Other times, the Employer is aware of the […]
Tip of the week- Updated WC Covid stats from the state
Greetings, I miss doing tips about carpal tunnel and stuff. The FL Department of Financial Services has released an updated report on the Covid WC claims statistics through 7/31/21. A link to the entire report is below, but here are some nuggets I pulled from the report: There have been 46,505 compensable Covid indemnity claims, […]
COVID & Florida Workers’ Comp
Wes Heim – Tampa wheim@eraclides.com In July of 2020 we took a look at the OJCC and the impact of COVID-19 generally (July 2020 Article) and in September I revisited the topic noting some of the emerging litigation trends (September 2020 Article). Just a few months ago, Governor DeSantis of Florida signed Senate Bill 72 […]
Morgan’s Tip of the Week – Covid compensability refresher
Greetings, As you can imagine with the surge in Covid cases due to the Delta variant, I am seeing a big increase in the number of questions I am getting about Covid compensability situations. My colleague Wes Heim in our Tampa office is preparing an article summarizing all of the JCC level cases that touched […]
Parking Lots, Clocked In or Out and Tater Tots
Greetings, Over the last week I have received several questions about compensability of accidents in parking lots and being off the clock. First issue that needs to be sorted out is whether the parking lot is considered the employer’s premises. Under the Premises Rule, even if an employee is clocked out, and is on their […]
Morgan’s Tip of the Week – FL Medical Marijuana Update
Greetings, On June 30, the 1st DCA ruled on whether an Employer/Carrier has to authorize a “referral for Medical Marijuana” in Jones v. Grace Healthcare (1D19-1684), case attached. The DCA found the E/C did not have to authorize the referral: “Under Florida law, marijuana is not reimbursable within our worker’s compensation system. Moreover, extant federal […]
Morgan’s Tip of the Week – Losing Control of One Time Change
Greetings, The 1st DCA issued a troubling decision regarding 1-time changes in St. Lucie Public Schools v. Alexander (case attached). In this case, the E/C timely responded to the 1-time change request, but because there was a 16-day gap in following up on an appointment, the E/C lost control of the choice of doctor. The […]
Juneteenth
Eraclides Gelman Hall Indek Goodman Waters & Traverso recognizes the significance of June 19, 1865, commonly referred to as Juneteenth, a historical date in American history. Juneteenth is many times referred to as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Liberation Day, and Emancipation Day. Juneteenth is a celebration of the abolition of slavery in the United States. […]
Morgan’s Tip of the Week – IB Reductions
Greetings, A frustrating issue came up on one of my files and I thought it would be a good refresher tip of the week regarding reduced impairment benefits. Once a claimant is put at MMI, they are paid impairment benefits at a rate of 75% of their TTD rate per 440.15(3)(c). However, for each week […]