Longshore Act Pay for Your Family Medical While You Are Out for 4 Years

Frequently Asked Questions

Insurance Coverage

Who needs Workers' Compensation Coverage?

Construction Employers who have 1 or more employees, including any not-exempt business concern owners;
Non-Structure Employers who take 4 or more employees including any not-exempt business concern owners;
Agriculture - when there are 6 regular employees and/or 12 seasonal workers who work more than 30 days during a flavour but no more than a full of 45 days in a calendar twelvemonth
Reference: Section 440.02(17), Florida Statutes

Is at that place of list of trades that are considered to be in the Structure Industry?

The list of trades that are considered to exist in the construction industry is found in 69L-6.021 Florida Authoritative Code.

I rent sub-contractors, aren't they responsible for their ain insurance?

Yep, each sub-contractor is responsible for providing Workers' Compensation insurance for their workers in the event of a work related injury, illness, or fatality.
However, the master contractor is responsible for ensuring that the sub-contractor has provided the coverage for its workers.
If a worker is injured, without being protected by insurance, and so the contractor becomes responsible for the payment of benefits.
For more data please review Section 440.x, Florida Statutes.

What does the contractor demand to obtain from the sub-contractor to verify coverage?

Prior to the beginning of the job the contractor must obtain the following:

If the sub-contractor has a Workers' Compensation insurance policy, obtain whatsoever of the following from the sub-contractor:
- A copy of the "Information Page" of the subcontractor's workers' compensation insurance policy;
- A screen print from the Division of Workers' Compensation, Proof of Coverage database confirming that workers' compensation coverage is in effect for the subcontractor, or
- A Certificate of Liability Insurance and written documentation obtained either from the producer or carrier confirming that workers' compensation coverage is in upshot for the subcontractor.
If the sub-contractor is a client company of an employee leasing company, you must obtain a Certificate of Liability Insurance and a listing of the employees leased to the subcontractor obtained from the employee leasing company as of the date the subcontractor commenced piece of work for the contractor on each projection.
If the sub-contractor has an exemption for the concern owner(south) then you may obtain either a copy of the exemption from the sub-contractor or a screen print of the exemption page from the Division of Workers' Compensation, Exemption Search database.

For more complete data delight review 69L-vi.032, Florida Administrative Code.

What should an Out-of-State Employer know almost Florida's coverage requirements?

An out-of-state employer engaged in the structure industry must immediately notify his or her insurance visitor and, or insurance agent that it has employees that are engaging in work in Florida.

Whatsoever construction industry employer having one or more role- or full-time employees performing work in Florida is required to obtain a Florida policy through a Florida-licensed insurance company. The employer must utilize the Florida chore classification codes, approved rates, rules, and manuals prior to beginning work in Florida. If the structure industry employer has an out-of-state policy, the insurance visitor must be licensed in Florida, and Florida must be listed in Department 3A of the policy. A Non-construction industry employer is required to obtain a Florida policy through a Florida-licensed insurance visitor once it has 4 or more than employees working in Florida.
For more information, please review Section 440.10(1)(g), Florida Statutes and 69L-half dozen.019 Florida Administrative Code.

If an Out of Country Employer is working in Florida temporarily, what practice they demand to do? And what is Extraterritorial Reciprocity?

Out-of-land employers whose home jurisdiction has in its statute an "extraterritorial reciprocity" clause allowing temporary employees from another jurisdiction (including Florida) to work nether the "home state's" workers' bounty policy are permitted to work in Florida using the workers' bounty policy from their "home country", as long as the work is temporary in nature. Temporary is divers equally no more than 10 consecutive days with a maximum of 25 total days in a calendar twelvemonth.
For a current list of the jurisdictions that have an extraterritorial reciprocity statute run into: Reciprocity listing
Florida Employers who plan to piece of work in some other state temporarily may check the above listed resources in order to determine if the land in which they program to piece of work has a reciprocal agreement, accepting the Florida Workers' Bounty insurance policy for temporary work. For further information delight contact the Country in which you plan to work for specific laws and rules that apply to their Workers' Compensation Coverage Requirements.
For more data, please review Department 440.094, Florida Statutes.

Where do I find Workers ' Compensation Insurance Coverage?

Contact an insurance amanuensis. You can as well contact the following insurance amanuensis associations:

Florida Association of Insurance Agents at www.trustedchoice.com
Latin American Association of Insurance Agents at (305) 477-1442
Professional person Insurance Agents of Florida at www.piafl.org

If yous cannot obtain coverage through the standard workers' compensation market, your insurance agent may contact the Florida Workers' Bounty Joint Underwriting Association (FWCJUA) at (941) 378-7400 or visit their website at www.fwcjua.com. The workers' compensation rates in the FWCJUA will exist higher than the rates in the standard marketplace.

By joining a commercial self-insurance fund where the members puddle resources and spread liabilities for whatsoever commercial and/or casualty insurance; for additional information please contact the Florida Part of Insurance Regulation.
By qualifying equally an individual cocky-insured; for boosted information, contact the Division of Workers' Compensation at (850) 413-1784.
Yous may too consider entering into an employee leasing organisation with a professional employer organisation that has secured workers' bounty coverage on behalf of its clients.
For more information, please review Department, 440.02, Florida Statutes.

How much does Workers' Compensation Insurance cost?

The price of Workers' Compensation insurance is based upon iii primary factors: the payroll for the concern, the type of work performed by the employees, and the private employer'due south claims history.
Premium discounts may also be available to employers. Ii of the more common discounts include a ii% discount for a workplace safe program and a five% discount for a drug free workplace program. Each of these programs must be renewed every year in order to receive the discount.

Who can I contact with questions or concerns regarding take a chance nomenclature codes and premium amounts?

Call your insurance carrier or service representative. If you have a question regarding the gamble classification codes or your Feel Modification Factor, you lot or your agent tin call the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) at 1-800-622-4123.

Is information technology legal to call all of my workers "contained contractors" and avoid having to take Workers' Compensation Insurance for them?

Florida's workers' bounty law does non permit for independent contractors in the construction industry. The person is either a business owner or an employee of a business.
In the non-construction industry, in that location are specific criteria in the Workers' Compensation law that identifies persons every bit "independent contractors". For more information please review Section 440.02(xv)d1, Florida Statutes.
The ultimate decision as to contained contractor status is with the person alleged to be contained and that person is responsible for proving that they are an independent contractor for Workers' Compensation purposes.

What are the Workers' Bounty Exemption Eligibility Requirements and Data?

Reference the Workers' Bounty Arrangement Guide for more detail on eligibility.

How does the Division of Workers' Bounty enforce employer compliance with the constabulary?

Reference the Workers' Compensation Arrangement Guide for more detail on enforcement.

Employer - Employee Questions

When one of my employees is injured who tells them of their rights and responsibilities?

When an injury is reported to the carrier, the carrier is responsible for sending a notice containing their rights and responsibilities to the injured worker. This notice also contains a Fraud Statement which must be signed past the injured worker and returned to the carrier, prior to any indemnity benefits being paid.

Does the injured worker pay whatever part of my workers' compensation insurance premium?

The law is very specific on this point. It is the employer's responsibility to pay the entire premium for workers' compensation insurance coverage.

For more information delight review Section 440.105(four)(a)(ii), Florida Statutes.

Injuries

Where do I go a supply of injury report forms that I am required to consummate when 1 of my employees is injured?

Your insurance carrier is required to provide you lot a supply of the Class DWC-i Kickoff Report of Injury or Illness. Forms can also exist downloaded from the Florida Workers' Bounty web site Rules & Forms page.
For more information please review Rule 69L-3.003(5), Florida Administrative Code.

What kinds of employee injuries are covered?

The law covers all accidental injuries and occupational diseases arising out of and in the course and telescopic of employment. This includes diseases or infections resulting from such injuries. The police also covers death resulting from such injuries within specified periods of time. Even if you practice not retrieve an injury is covered, you must still file the First Report of Injury or Illness (DWC-1) with your insurance carrier for determination of responsibleness within seven days of your commencement knowledge of the accident/injury.

For more information delight review Sections 440.02(1) & 440.16, Florida Statutes.

What injuries are not covered?

The law does not provide compensation for the post-obit conditions:

Mental or nervous injury due to stress, fright, or excitement;
Work related condition that causes an employee to have fearfulness or dislike for another individual because of the individual's race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or handicap;
"Pain and suffering" has never been compensable in Florida, nor is information technology compensable in any other state. The employer may not sue an injured worker for causing a ending nor can the injured worker sue the employer for their injury. This merchandise-off makes it possible for injured workers to receive immediate medical care, at no cost to the injured worker, without any consideration for who was at fault, the employer or the employee. In civil law, negligence must be established through litigation before any compensation is awarded.

For more information please review Section 440.02(1), Florida Statutes.

Compensation will not exist paid in several other instances:

If the injury is caused by the employee's willful intention to hurt or impale himself or some other;
If the injury is caused primarily considering the employee is intoxicated or under the influence of drugs;
If the injury or death of the employee is covered by the Federal Employer'south Liability Act, the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, or the Jones Act (if the injured worker is a "seaman" or member of a coiffure). For more data, please visit www.dol.gov.
For more information delight review Department 440.09, Florida Statutes.

Can an employer be liable for double compensation?

An employer can exist liable for double compensation if a minor child is injured while employed in violation of any of the conditions of the child labor laws of Florida. The employer alone, not the insurance carrier, is liable for upwardly to double the normal compensation as provided by the Workers' Bounty Law. To receive further information regarding the Child Labor Law, telephone call the Kid Labor Office at (800) 226-2536.

For more data delight review Department 440.54, Florida Statutes.

Equally a small business owner, I fail to see how I can be sued by an injured worker if I provide all the necessary intendance, calorie-free duty work, and offer to retrain the employee after the injury occurs.

Under the provisions of Chapter 440, Florida Statutes, an injured worker has 2 years from the appointment of the accident to file a petition for benefits with the Division of Authoritative Hearings. If an employer is providing benefits and render to work options, that should exist sufficient to meet the ultimate goal of returning an injured worker to gainful employment. However, an employer/carrier's definition of "necessary care" and that of an injured worker may differ. When that happens, the injured worker has no remedy except to file a petition for benefits and take a guess of compensation claims determine whether the benefits that are being provided are sufficient, or if additional benefits not existence provided are required by Florida constabulary. If the employer is providing benefits, all expenditures must be reported to the employer'due south workers' compensation insurance carrier for statistical purposes.

If I doubtable that the worker who claims to accept sustained an injury is faking, what do I do?

Make certain that the claim is filed and discuss the situation with your insurance carrier.

If I suspect an employer should have Workers' Bounty insurance coverage, just does not, or if I suspect fraudulent action in a workers' compensation claim, where exercise I report this?

Suspected workers' compensation fraud tin can be reported directly to the Sectionalization of Fraud, Bureau of Workers' Bounty Fraud, 200 E. Gaines Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0318, or to the toll free hotline number at 1-800-378-0445.
Suspected non-compliance can be reported to the Florida Sectionalisation of Workers' Compensation, Agency of Compliance'south toll free hotline at ane-800-742-2214. Bearding calls are accepted. Or complete the Not-Compliance Referral Class to report employer's who do not take workers' compensation insurance coverage.

For more data please review Department 440.1051, Florida Statutes.

What in the system would forbid an injured worker, who wanted to leave his job or who believes he would be "laid off" or "terminated" from claiming to be injure, waiting out the handling, and and so endeavor to settle?

Past constabulary, pain or other subjective complaints alone, in the absence of objective relevant medical findings, are not compensable. However, sometimes these types of claims do occur and they are sometimes settled by insurance carriers for a nominal corporeality of money to rid the employer/carrier of a nuisance case.

For more information delight review Department 440.09(i), Florida Statutes

Condom

If bounty payable if an employee refuses to employ a safety appliance similar a hard chapeau, safety goggles, or fails to observe safety rules?

Compensation volition still be paid, but indemnity benefits (partial wage replacement) may be reduced by 25 percent if the employee knew about the safety rule prior to the accident and failed to find the rule, or if the employee knowingly chooses not to apply a safety apparatus which the employer has directed him to use.

For more information please review Section 440.09(5), Florida Statutes.

Is there someone who can assist me to establish a Safety Programme for my business?

The University of South Florida Safety Florida Consultation Program has several services that are offered to Florida's small employers. Those services include helping to establish a Prophylactic Plan; gratuitous consultation program; and the power to check out training videos to provide safety training to your employees. For more data please visit their website at world wide web.usfsafetyflorida.com

Drug-Costless Workplace

Will becoming a drug-free workplace save me money on my insurance premium?

If you implement a drug-free workplace programme in accord with the criteria set forth in s.440.102, Florida Statutes, yous may be eligible for a 5 per centum premium credit from your insurance carrier to your workers' compensation insurance premium. In add-on to the premium credit, having a Workers' Compensation Drug-Gratuitous Workplace Program may make your workplace safer, resulting in fewer accidents, which may reduce your workers' compensation costs.

For more than data please review Sections 440.101 & 440.102, Florida Statutes.

Am I required to get a carrier certified drug-costless workplace?

Becoming a carrier certified drug-gratuitous workplace is voluntary. However, without the certification, y'all would not be eligible for whatever of the benefits provided nether this programme.

For more data please review Sections 440.101 & 440.102, Florida Statutes.

Under the Workers' Compensation Drug-Costless Workplace Plan, can I conduct random drug testing of my employees?

In add-on to the situations in which testing is mandatory, the law does not prohibit a private employer from conducting random testing or any other lawful testing of employees. A public employer may plant random testing of employees in "safe sensitive" or "special hazard" occupations.

For more than information please review Sections 440.101 & 440.102, Florida Statutes.

Can I use a breathalyzer as a valid drug test?

Nether the Workers' Compensation Drug-Free Workplace Program, the use of a breathalyzer cannot be used as a testing method for initial or confirmation tests.

For more data delight review Sections 440.101 & 440.102, Florida Statutes.

What if an employee refuses to take a drug examination?

If an injured worker refuses to submit to a test for drugs or booze, the employee may forfeit eligibility for medical and indemnity benefits. If an employee or job applicant refuses to submit to a drug test, the employer is permitted to discharge or field of study the employee or may decline to hire the applicant (if specified in the written Drug-Complimentary Workplace Policy), since, by law, refusal to submit to a drug test is presumed to be a positive test result.

For more information please review Sections 440.101, 440.102 & 440.09(7)(d), Florida Statutes.

If a terminated employee files for unemployment benefits (in Florida these benefits are chosen "Re-employment Benefits") may I inform the adjudicator that the employee was terminated as a result of a positive drug test?

The adjudicator is bound to maintain this information confidential under s. 443.1715(3)(b), Florida Statutes, until introduced into the public record pursuant to a hearing conducted under s.443.151(4), Florida Statutes. Under all other instances employers may not release any information concerning drug test results obtained pursuant to section s.440.102(8), Florida Statutes, unless such release is compelled by an administrative law guess, a hearing officer, or a courtroom of competent jurisdiction or is deemed advisable by a professional or occupational licensing board in a related disciplinary proceeding.

For more than data please review Sections 440.101 & 440.102(8), Florida Statutes.

Tin can I post the results of my employees' drug tests?

All information, interviews, reports, statements, memoranda and drug test results, written or otherwise, received by the employer through a drug testing program is confidential and cannot exist posted in whatsoever public way.

For more information delight review Sections 440.101 & 440.102, Florida Statutes.

Am I responsible for payment for services when my employee participates in an Employee Assist Program (EAP)?

No, but if you choose to pay for an Employee Assistance Program, you take the right to choose the facility providing treatment. If an employee does participate in an Employee Assistance Program, you, the employer, are required to extend the same considerations as reflected under the federal guidelines established for the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family and Medical Get out Act.

For more information please review Sections 440.101 & 440.102, Florida Statutes.

How many days does the employee have to re-test the specimen if he or she wishes to competition a positive test outcome?

During the 180 twenty-four hour period flow after written notification of a positive test result, the employee who has provided the specimen shall be permitted by the employer to have a portion of the specimen re-tested, at the employee'southward expense, an Bureau for Health Care Administration (AHCA) licensed or a USHHS certified laboratory of his or her option.

For more than information please review Sections 440.101 & 440.102(v)(grand), Florida Statutes.

Who pays for the drug exam?

The employer is responsible for payment of all drug tests they may require. However, if an employee wishes to take the specimen re-tested at a laboratory certified past the Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA), it will be at the employee's expense. If the workers' compensation insurance carrier uses a positive test result to determine the compensability of a claim, the carrier would exist responsible to cover the costs of the examination.

For more information delight review Sections 440.101 & 440.102, Florida Statutes.

Is there someone who can assist us set up a Drug Gratis Workplace?

Yep, the National Drug-Gratuitous Workplace Alliance offers Florida'south employers assist in establishing Drug Gratis Workplaces. For more information delight visit their website at www.ndwa.org or www.dfaf.org.

petersenshmis1976.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.myfloridacfo.com/division/wc/employer/faq.htm