News & Articles

A $70 difference in an attorney’s maximum hourly rate torpedoed a comprehensive workers’ compensation reform measure making its way through the legislature, as House and Senate lawmakers were unable to compromise further. Both versions extended the benefits period from 104 to 260 weeks, to conform with a Florida Supreme Court decision that declared the current system unconstitutional. In an earlier …

In a move that has no direct effect on injured workers, except to increase the benefits available, the First District Court of Appeal ruled that a 14.5% rate increase, which took effect in December, was legal. The plaintiff claimed that the National Council on Compensation Insurance, which recommends premium payments for workers’ compensation insurance, violated the state’s open meeting law …

The City of Miami Beach says that Zika infection is not a job-related injury and therefore not covered by workers’ compensation. Bobby Jenkins, the head of the police union, says that two officers who lived outside the Zika hot zones but were on patrol inside the zones were recently diagnosed with the disease. In one cases, the City revoked workers’ …

Largely because of two recent court decisions, workers’ compensation premiums in the Sunshine State, which had fallen over 60% since 2003, will go up by 14.5%. Both court decisions involve the 2003 reforms, which had been a boon for businesses while they dramatically affected worker benefits. In Castellanos v. Next Door Company, the Florida Supreme Court invalidated the attorneys’ fee …

Considering that it is a tiny, isolated atoll that is almost exactly in the center of the Indian Ocean, Diego Garcia has a rather colorful history and an important role in global security. The 17-square-mile sand and coral atoll is technically part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, but U.S. forces have been there since 1966, and they will probably …