Workers Compensation
When you are injured on the job in Florida
Getting injured at work is always unfortunate. Sustaining the injury in Florida means you are even less fortunate, because Florida has one of the weakest workers compensation systems in the country, providing meager support even when you meet the unreasonably high standards of proof to qualify for benefits. And, if you were injured after October, 2003—when the system became even more restrictive—you may feel downright cursed. It is our job at Louis P. Pfeffer, P.A. to help you navigate this difficult system.
To understand what you are up against when you are injured on the job, it is helpful to know some basic information about why we have this system in Florida and how it works:
- What is workers compensation?
- Why is Florida law biased against injured workers?
- What benefits am I entitled to?
- Does the system ever work to the injured worker’s benefit?
Why you need a lawyer
Few injured workers—suffering from the pain of a work-related injury and the financial consequences of being out of work—have the resources, medical knowledge, and legal skill to obtain all of the workers compensation benefits they are due. Nor are they able to secure their own potential rights for damages due to the loss of their employment. As Abraham Lincoln once remarked, “He who acts as his own attorney has a fool for a client.”
Dedicated to defending Florida workers’ rights
For aggressive defense of the rights of workers injured on the job in West Palm Beach, Orlando, Martin, and throughout South Florida, call the dedicated lawyers of Louis P. Pfeffer, P.A. at 561-745-8011 or contact us online.
What is workers compensation?
In principle, the system is designed to deliver benefits to workers who are injured on the job, regardless of who is at fault. As long as the injury resulted from a risk in the workplace, you are supposed to be covered. The law provides two categories of benefits:
- Limited partial wage replacement
- Reasonable medical care for your injuries
But there are a lot of obstacles built into the laws.
Why is Florida law biased against injured workers?
Florida has had a workers compensation system since 1935. Ostensibly, the system was designed to benefit you. If you are injured at work, you get guaranteed benefits without the delay and uncertainty of having to prove that your injuries were due to the fault of your employer, your co-worker, or faulty machinery.
But the real reason for the workers compensation law was as an economic effort to attract and keep businesses in Florida. Before then, an injured worker would go to a jury of community members to seek money damages against a negligent employer or co-worker and to punish the wrongdoer. Under workers compensation law—even if your employer is grossly negligent in causing your injuries—you no longer have the right to sue your employer to recover money damages for your injuries, pain and suffering, loss of wages, or lost earning capacity. By having workers comp insurance, your employer is legally shielded from being sued.
And it gets worse. Since 1984 when I began my practice, there have been five major changes to Florida workers compensation law. Each change in the law has been for the benefit of the insurance industry and employers by—
- Cutting partial wage replacement benefits
- Limiting medical benefits
- Making it more difficult for an injured worker to receive these benefits
The biggest change in the workers compensation law came in 2003 and is effective for all accidents occurring after October 1, 2003.
What benefits am I entitled to for work accidents on or after October 1, 2003?
Medical care
You are entitled to reasonable and necessary medical care for your injuries, but there is a catch. Your employer's insurance company selects the doctor who treats you. Under this law, for the most part, what the doctor says goes. And the doctors the insurance companies select are typically those who look out for the best interests of the insurance companies. Rather than providing you with the best care, they supply the insurance companies’ opinions favorable to their bottom lines, such as—
- There is nothing wrong with you
- Any injuries that are diagnosed are preexisting, personal and not related to your accident
- You can go back to work immediately
- You need minimal or no further treatment
- You have reached maximum medical improvement and are therefore entitled only to palliative care, not care designed to cure your injury
If you do not like what the selected doctor says or how you are being treated, you get one opportunity to change your treating doctor. However, the insurance company gets to pick your new doctor as well. It is clear that the system is working against you. You need a lawyer knowledgeable in workers’ rights.
Wage replacement
The wage replacement—indemnity—benefits you receive depend upon the stated opinions of the treating doctors authorized by the employer’s insurance company:
- If you are unable to perform any type of work, you are entitled to receive temporary total disability (TTD) benefits. These are paid bi-weekly at two thirds of your average weekly wage (AWW) or the average of your total wages received in the 13 weeks before your accident.
- If you are still healing, but are able to perform some type of work—even if it is not the job you were performing at the time of injury or your employer does not have any light duty work available—you are entitled to temporary partial disability (TPD) benefits. TPD benefits pay roughly 80 percent of your normal pay.
- If you have reached maximum medical improvement (MMI)—you are "as good as you are going to get," according to the insurance company doctor—your temporary wage replacement benefits end, even if you have not reached the maximum 104-week limit mandated by the 2003 law.
Once you reach MMI, the doctors who are treating you are required to consult a guide book written by the insurance companies to determine whether you have any permanent impairment. For each injury there is a corresponding—and arbitrary—number of permanent impairment points. You are then entitled to several weeks of continued benefits for each point of permanent impairment.
For the majority of claims, once the insurance company pays you this usually minimal impairment benefit, your employers and their insurance company do not owe you any additional wage replacement benefits. The only exception is if you can meet the demanding standard that you are permanently and totally disabled as a result of your injuries and are not able to perform even sedentary work within 50 miles of your home.
Does this system ever work to the injured worker's benefit?
The current system may be adequate and fair to workers with minor injuries who are able to return to work quickly, or for workers who are clearly permanently and totally disabled. But the majority of injured workers fall somewhere in between. They are faced with a system that provides benefits that are unfair and in favor of the employer and the insurance company.
The attorneys at Louis P. Pfeffer, P.A. seek justice for clients caught in these situations. We advise each client about their potential rights under federal and Florida employment laws, including cases of workers compensation retaliation, disability discrimination claims, and claims under the federal Family Medical Leave Act.
