Greetings, Although the Florida Legislative session ended May 5th, HB 487 was signed into law at the end of last week (5/25/23).  There are two parts of the bill that deal directly with Florida Workers’ Compensation, but no drastic changes. Well the new statute removes the word “shall” and replaces it with “may”.  This means […]

Greetings, In the last week I received a few questions about how far is too far for a claimant to travel for medical treatment.  A big thank you to Ryan Knight of our Miami office for helping with the caselaw below on this one.  (if you need anything in Miami-Ft/ Lauderdale, Ryan is fantastic: rknight@eraclides.com) […]

Greetings,  good surveillance can be an effective tool in defending a WC claim in Florida.   The decision on how, when and where to use it effectively can be tricky. The three primary objectives in utilizing surveillance are: Let’s look at each of those separately.  As an aside, it is very important you confer with defense […]

Greetings,  everyone makes mistakes, but they are always fixable (well almost always). Occasionally I will have an adjuster reach out to me thinking that had previously assigned defense with a mediation set for that day.   And without fail, our firm will be able to handle it or get it moved.   But I know, for some […]

Greetings,  I just had a very interesting question this morning regarding reporting of claims and when the E/C needs to send the initial packet/brochure to the claimant. If an Employer files a “report only” or “First-Aid” only claim to the Carrier, does the carrier have to set up a claim and mail the claimant the […]

Greetings, Many things we deal with in Florida WC have tight deadlines.  For example, we have 30 days to respond to a Request to Produce, 7 days to pay an order, 14 days to issue a settlement check, 3 days to respond to a request for medical treatment from an authorized doctor to avoid waiving […]

Greetings, one of the more confusing aspects of Florida WC is the handling of permanent impairment benefits under 440.15(3).  Here are a few issues that come up: The entire statute is below. (3) PERMANENT IMPAIRMENT BENEFITS.— (a) Once the employee has reached the date of maximum medical improvement, impairment benefits are due and payable within 14 days […]

Greetings, I am often asked questions about accidents that occur while an employee is on a business trip/traveling for work.  The statute itself does seem to be strict on compensability, but the caselaw has taken a much broader approach. 440.092(4) TRAVELING EMPLOYEES.—An employee who is required to travel in connection with his or her employment who […]

Greetings, we often use the terms “accident” and “injury” interchangeably.  In the Florida WC statute, these are treated very differently, and the burdens of proof are vastly different.  Thinking about them as separate things will help you determine whether it is a compensable claim. Think about it this way, the accident is the event, the […]