Lawmakers Mull Workers’ Compensation Alternative

For many years, workers’ comp has been the exclusive remedy for job-related illnesses or injuries in Florida. A proposed bill may change that.

H.B. 1069 would allow employers to continue providing benefits for occupational injuries under work comp or elect to become “a qualified compensation alternate employer,” and would have to create a written plan, demonstrate financial ability to pay benefits, which include medical coverage, indemnity and death benefits.

The bill would require the alternative plans to declare that work performed in the course and scope of employment must be a major contributing cause of an injury or death for a claim to be covered.

The bill would also declare that employers “must provide benefits to an employee otherwise eligible for occupational injury benefits if the employee reports an accident or a known exposure to an occupational disease within three days.”

Workers’ Compensation

In the early days of this system, workers’ compensation paid lost wages and medical bills before injured or ill victims who couldn’t work could say Jack Spratt. Today, the same benefits are available, but the environment is much different.

These benefits are available even if the victim was partially at fault for, or entirely at fault for, a work-related illness or injury. Specific benefits include:

• Lost Wage Replacement: After a seven-day waiting period, workers’ compensation usually pays two-thirds of the victim’s average weekly wage for the duration of a temporary or permanent disability. Victims are entitled to the first seven days’ lost wages if they miss at least twenty-one days of work. Special rules apply in some cases.
• Medical Bill Payment: This benefit applies right away. It extends from transportation to a medical facility to the last day of physical therapy, at least in most cases. This benefit also applies to prescription drugs, medical devices, and other ancillary medical costs. Most job injury victims in Florida must see company doctors.

Some limited defenses, such as intoxication at the time of injury or an injury sustained during non-work horseplay, apply in a few cases. Employers normally have the burden of proof to establish these defenses by a preponderance of the evidence.

Usually, a Tampa workers’ compensation lawyer can obtain full lost wage replacement and medical payment benefits even if a pre-existing and/or non-work condition contributed to the risk and/or severity of illness or injury.

Nonsubscriber Claims

In most cases, workers’ comp is the exclusive remedy for job-related illnesses or injuries. However, a few exceptions apply. Major ones include:

• Uninsured Employer: if the victim’s employer doesn’t have a valid workers’ compensation policy, regardless of the reason why, a Tampa workers’ compensation lawyer can file a personal injury claim in civil court. If a lawyer proves negligence, or a lack of care, additional compensation, such as money for emotional distress and other noneconomic losses, is available.
• Reckless/Intentional Injury: By design, workers’ compensation applies to “accidental” illnesses and injuries. Employers are reckless if they knowingly put employees in dangerous situations that involve a high risk of injury or illness. Employers act intentionally if they had a hidden motive, such as retaliation for union organization, when they exposed workers to danger.

That first bullet point is, by far, the most common nonsubscriber claim. In these situations, to punish employers for not following the law, Florida law bars the use of many silver bullet defenses, such as comparative fault or assumption of the risk.

Workers’ compensation and nonsubscriber claims alike typically settle out of court. These resolutions benefit victims in many ways, mostly because they’re final resolutions. Employers can tie court judgements up in appeals courts, but they must write checks when they settle cases.

 Count on a Tough-Minded Hillsborough County Lawyer 

Injury victims are entitled to important financial benefits. For a confidential consultation with an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer in Tampa, contact Kobal Law. After-hours visits are available.

Source:

flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2025/1069