Legislature Fine-Tunes Workers' Comp Laws Before Adjourning

Monday, March 21, 2016 | 1

Expert medical advisers will no longer have to be certified if they are appointed by the Florida Office of Judges of Compensation, under a bill signed into law Thursday by Gov. Scott Walker. The measure also increases assessments on self-insurers and eases penalties for businesses that are caught failing to provide workers' compensation coverage.

Rep. Jennifer Sullivan

The House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 828 by Rep. Jennifer Sullivan, R-Eustis, 35-0 on March 8, after it also cleared the state Senate unanimously. The legislature adjourned Thursday.

Previously, judges of compensation claims were not allowed to independently appoint an expert medical adviser. Now they can.

Other provisions of SB 828:

• Increase the cap on the assessment levied by the Florida Workers' Compensation Insurance Guaranty Association to 2% from 1.5%, making it consistent with the cap on insurers. The bill also revises the assessment recoupment method so that the assessment is added as a surcharge collected by the insurers instead of part of the premium.
• Eliminate the preferred worker program administered by the Department of Education and the Department of Financial Services, which Sullivan said has been essentially "stagnant for more than a decade." The trust fund, she said, has not issued a reimbursement since 2002.
• Eliminate the $100 registration fee for an insurance carrier that intends to write workers' compensation insurance.
• Eliminate the $250 notification fee and $500 proof of claim fee on each notice of claim to the Special Disability Trust Fund.
• Eliminate a requirement that death claims be reported over the telephone. The same information is sent electronically.

The new law also reduces regulations and fees, specifically for small businesses that have been issued a stop-work order if they have never been in trouble before and are currently in compliance with business records requirements.

Rep. Sullivan said in an email Friday that the bill does not weaken employee protections, but does give relief from "onerous provisions" on small businesses that could be forced to shut down under the tough rules of the current system. She described the Department of Financial Services' penalty rules as "outdated" and loaded with "unnecessary fees."

For small businesses who run into trouble -- for the first time -- with workers' compensation laws, they'll get a break on fines that under the old system could have knocked them out of business, Sullivan said.

The changes specifically relate to small business who have been issued a stop-work order but otherwise have a clean record and are currently in compliance with business records requirements.

According to Sullivan, the provision does not weaken employee protections, but gives relief from "onerous provisions" on small business who in the past had faced a system she described as "outdated" and loaded with "unnecessary fees."

The law does that by reducing an employer's penalty by 25%, as well as the multiplier penalty attached to certain penalties, she said.

Under the old system, the Division of Workers' Compensation was not allowed to reduce an employer's penalty even when the employer complied with the business records requirement.

If the employer does not have records in place, the employer's payroll will be based on the state average weekly wage multiplied by two.

Another amendment removed a portion of the bill that changed the definition of an employee. Sullivan said the change was made at the request of the department after discussions with stakeholders.

The legislation was approved as the legislature adjourned and signed into law by the governor.

Another amendment to the bill removed language that would have changed the definition of an employee, which Sullivan said Financial Services Department requested after discussions with stakeholders.

The law also deleted a preferred worker program that offered financial incentives to employers who hired partially disabled workers.