What Are My Rights Under Workers’ Compensation in Florida?
Injured workers have three basic rights under Florida’s workers’ compensation law. All these rights are designed to get injured workers back on the job as fast as possible. In the end, that’s what everyone wants. Workers’ compensation also fairly compensates job injury victims. This compensation is part of the early 1900s Grand Bargain between workers and management.
As originally designed, the workers’ compensation system fulfilled these two roles. Lawyers rarely got involved. Today, however, things are different. Most companies, and their insurance company allies, don’t appreciate these rights. So, without a Tampa workers’ compensation lawyer, job injury victims must get by on their own. That’s not an outcome we can tolerate.
Safe Environment
Many of the most common workplace injuries are preventable. Falls, the most common workplace injury, are a good example. Basic safety precautions, such as safety harnesses and reinforced guardrails, could basically eliminate the risk of a fall from a height.
However, these safety precautions always cost money and usually cause delays. The construction industry is so competitive that companies only spend the absolute minimum necessary and want the work to move faster, not slower.
Florida’s workers’ compensation law requires companies to provide proper protective and safety equipment, train workers in its use, and stress its importance to them.
A penny-pinching company isn’t the only threat to this right. Florida has a large percentage of LEP (limited English proficiency) workers. Many bosses don’t convey the aforementioned messages in a language an employee can easily understand. Even if the company provides a translator, important details often get lost in translation.
Injury Benefits
Financial benefits are the core workers’ compensation rights. These benefits usually include lost wage replacement and medical bill payment.
Most workers are entitled to two-thirds of their average weekly wage for the duration of a temporary or permanent disability. Duration is often an issue in Florida. Injured workers must see company doctors who, in many cases, rush victims back to work before they’re ready.
A Tampa workers’ compensation lawyer typically connects job injury victims with independent doctors who render a second opinion about the length of the disability.
Under the law, the insurance company must pay all reasonably necessary medical bills. These bills include direct costs, like hospital, doctor, and physical therapist expenses, and ancillary costs, like medical devices and prescription drugs. These costs usually exceed $40,000 in a serious injury case.
The reasonably necessary requirement often delays workers’ compensation settlements. In Florida, injured workers must see company doctors. These physicians often have a limited view of what’s “reasonably necessary.”
A few defenses are available in a few cases, mostly the UI defense. Benefits are unavailable if the victim was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the injury.
Ability to File a Civil Suit
Many job injury victims may file claims outside the system and obtain additional compensation for their injuries.
This option is usually available in nonsubscriber cases. Florida law requires most employers to maintain workers’ compensation insurance. If an employer doesn’t have a valid policy, injured victims can normally file civil claims. As further punishment for their failure to maintain insurance, these companies usually cannot use some of the most effective negligence defenses.
This option may be available in other cases as well, especially if the employer acted recklessly, such as knowingly sending workers into hazardous environments.
Reach Out to a Hard-Hitting 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. We routinely handle matters throughout the Sunshine State.
Source:
myfloridacfo.com/division/wc
