Workers COMPENSATION, ITS Future in Florida

As many of you already know, there has been a tremendous amount attention paid to the worker’s compensation laws in our state over the last year.  The Florida Supreme Court recently found the decisions in 3 prior cases (Miles, Westphal, and Castellanos) to be unconstitutional.  These cases were pivotal in establishing the positive tort reform that lowered rates in our state by over 70% since 2004.  This recent ruling to overturn those decisions will dramatically effect WC rates in our state by removing the cap on attorney fees when representing injured workers.  Below are a few of the negative effects of the supreme court ruling.

• The cap of 104 weeks for a work comp case time limit has been increased to 260
• No longer a cap on the fees lawyers can charge for their services involved
• No longer a 10% cap on what a lawyer can receive from winning a work comp case

What does this mean to you?  How will this affect your coverage going forward.  Will this impact your mod rate? ALL of these are questions that need to be addressed, but one thing is certain, rates will be going up.

So, now is the time to review your Workers Compensation coverage. Please feel free to reach out to any of us in the office and we can set aside some time to discuss how these changes will impact your business, as well as some of the ways to become more diligent in managing your WC exposure to protect your Experience Mod.

Fun Facts

Pop music star Barry Manilow not only wrote State Farm’s enduring “Like a Good Neighbor” jingle in 1971, he performed it for years as part of what he called his “Very Strange Medley” of themes recorded for Band-Aid, Dr Pepper, Pepsi and McDonald’s (“You Deserve a Break Today”).  https://youtu.be/8ziLFzfWusw