By Sean Jordan, Associate, Orlando

The exclusive-remedy provision of Florida Workers’ Compensation law defines the sole and total liability of an employer for injuries to an employee and expressly extends to the husband or wife, parents, dependents, and next of kin of the employee, and thus precludes an injured worker’s family members from recovering from the employer. Connolly v. Maryland Cas. Co., 849 F.2d 525 (11th Cir. 1988) (applying Florida law).

Statutory provisions require both employers and carriers to report employee deaths. Additional reports with respect to the injury and the condition of the employee, including copies of medical reports, funeral expenses, and wage statements, must be filed by the employer or carrier with the Department of Financial Services at such times and in such manner as the department may prescribe by rule. The employer must notify the Department of Financial Services within 24 hours by telephone or telegraph of any injury resulting in death. § 440.185(3), Fla. Stat. Carriers and employers are subjective to administrative fines by the DFS for failure or refusal to provide notice.

Practice Tip: In some circumstances, an insurer must file the electronic form equivalent of a First Report of Injury or Illness. Special electronic data interchange requirements are set forth for such a report, and it is important to understand the different deadlines for filing required reports electronically as prescribed by Fla. Admin. Code R. 69L-56.301.

Florida Workers’ Compensation law also authorizes the payment of compensation to certain relatives of a deceased worker on account of dependency upon the deceased. § 440.16(1)(b), Fla. Stat. A showing of dependency therefore is a prerequisite to the recovery of compensation for an employee’s death. Amsler v. Sox Meat Packers, 75 So.2d 207 (Fla. 1954). Dependency is a rational requirement in light of the purposes of the law.

The rights of dependents to workers’ compensation benefits must be determined by the law in effect at the time of the deceased employee’s injury rather than at the time of his or her death. The relationship to the deceased employee giving a right to compensation under the provisions of the Florida Workers’ Compensation Law governing compensation for death must have existed at the time of the employee’s accident, except in the case of afterborn children of the deceased.

With respect to death benefits, Florida Workers’ Compensation law does not define the terms “dependent” or “dependency.” Panama City Stevedoring Co. v. Padgett, 149 Fla. 687, 6 So.2d 822 (1942). A primary test of dependency is whether the person claiming to be a dependent relied on the deceased employee’s contributions for the means of living, having regard to the claimant’s class and position in life, and the actual contributions made. Padgett at 6.

Contributions from the deceased employee which are sufficient to create actual dependency must be determined in each instance by the extent to which the contributions enabled the claimant to maintain his or her accustomed standard of living. Floriland Farms, Inc. v. Peterman, 131 So.2d 477 (Fla. 1961). In order to establish dependency, though, the assistance or contributions made by the decedent to the claimant need not have been in the form of money, but may have been in the form of gifts of the necessities of life, such as food and clothing. Wise v. E.L. Copeland Builders, 435 So.2d 339 (Fla. 1^st DCA 1983).

The issue of dependency is essentially a question of fact in each case. Paul Spellman, Inc. v. Spellman, 103 So.2d 661 (Fla. 2^nd DCA 1958).  Proof of actual dependency does not necessarily require a showing that the claimant relied on the deceased employee for the bare necessities of life, and that without the deceased’s contributions, the claimant would have been reduced to destitution.  It is enough to show that the claimant relied on such contributions for the maintenance of his or her accustomed standard of living. Thus, one may be a dependent although receiving income from other sources.  On the other hand, casual gifts from an employee at irregular intervals do not support a claim for death benefits based on dependency.

In sum, it is important that the employer and carrier act in concert to satisfy the notice requirements immediately following an employee’s death. Additionally, when determining dependency remember proof of actual economic dependency is not necessary where the claimant is a minor legitimate child of the deceased employee, but must be done on a case by case basis of any other individual claiming dependency.