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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Greetings, Florida has announced an early end to the $300 Federal Unemployment benefit on 6/26/21. The Federal Benefit was slated to expire on 9/6/21, but several states have ended the program earlier. Florida will revert back to the state maximum of $275 a week. If you are taking an offset this will have to be […]
Greetings, The economy in Florida is starting to climb back, and tourism is returning (judging by the number of shrieking, wailing and marauding children at Orlando Int. Airport this weekend). As of right now, Floridians on Unemployment continue to receive the $300 Federal boost on top of the state max of $275. That is slated […]
Greetings, A JCC level case from a week ago caught my eye because it dealt with two issues that I am being asked about fairly frequently. (JCC level cases are not “the law”, and they are not binding on other JCC’s, but are sometimes good indicators as to how other JCC’s may rule). In this […]
Greetings, I often get questions on what to do when a claimant’s unrelated personal health issues delay surgery or treatment. Well the 1st DCA just affirmed a JCC decision on the issue (without a written DCA opinion) in Carter vs. Seminole Express (April 8, 2021). In this case, the ER could not accommodate light […]