• Menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Before Header

  • Search
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
 

Amaxx Workers Comp Blog

Reduce Workers Compensation Costs By 20-50%

Header Right

  • Home
    • Training Center
  • Get Started
    • Newcomers Class for WC Professionals
    • Subscribe to Free Newsletter
    • Free Training Center Account
    • Return to Work Resources
    • WC Claims Mgmt. Resources
    • Insurance Advisor Resources
  • Membership
    • Insider (free account)
    • WC Mastery
    • Teams & Managers Mastery
    • Training Partners
  • Products
    • On-Demand Courses
    • Specialty Courses
    • Certifications & Mastery Courses
    • Ultimate Guidebooks
  • Blog
    • Video Blogs
    • COVID-19 / Coronavirus Pandemic
  • Login

Mobile Menu

Choose Broadspire

CHOOSE BROADSPIREBroadspire Delivers Meaningful Results to Our Clients and Their Claimants
  • Home
    • Training Center
  • Get Started
    • Newcomers Class for WC Professionals
    • Subscribe to Free Newsletter
    • Free Training Center Account
    • Return to Work Resources
    • WC Claims Mgmt. Resources
    • Insurance Advisor Resources
  • Membership
    • Insider (free account)
    • WC Mastery
    • Teams & Managers Mastery
    • Training Partners
  • Products
    • On-Demand Courses
    • Specialty Courses
    • Certifications & Mastery Courses
    • Ultimate Guidebooks
  • Blog
    • Video Blogs
    • COVID-19 / Coronavirus Pandemic
  • Login
  • Search
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
You are here: Home / Claim Management / Integrated Disability Management / Temporary Total Disability Cap Major Development in Florida Workers’ Compensation

Temporary Total Disability Cap Major Development in Florida Workers’ Compensation

March 5, 2013 By //  by Michael B. Stack Leave a Comment

104 Week Cap of Temporary Total Disability Deemed Unconstitutional

On 2-28-13, the First District Court of Appeals (DCA) ruled Florida’s 104 week cap on temporary total disability benefits to be unconstitutional as a denial to courts and a denial of administration of justice without delay.

Click Link to Access Free PDF Download

“5-Step Sequence to Coordinate Return-to-Work with ADA Compliance”

Bradley Westphal, a firefighter and paramedic for the City of St. Petersburg injured his back and knee while working in 2009. Mr. Westphal had back surgery and incurred nerve damage in his leg.  The claimant exhausted 104 weeks of temporary total disability before he reached a level of maximum medical improvement. As the claimant had not reached MMI after exhausting temporary total disability, he was not eligible for temporary partial disability (TPD) or permanent total disability (PTD). The City of St. Petersburg ceased temporary total disability payments.

Westphal applied for permanent total disability benefits but was denied by a work comp judge as he was not at maximum medical improvement and it was considered too speculative to award the claimant with PTD benefits. Nine months after the temporary total disability benefits had been exhausted, enough medical evidence was available for the claimant to be awarded permanent total disability. The employee then brought suit against the City of St. Petersburg and the State of Florida for temporary total disability benefits during the nine month statutory gap in disability benefits.

Question of Gap In Benefits Between Temporary Total Disability and Temporary Partial Disability

In a previous DCA case, Matrix Employee Leasing, Inc. vs. Hadley, the DCA had ruled there is a statutory gap in benefits between the expiration of 104 weeks of temporary total disability benefits and temporary partial disability benefits when the employee does not reached MMI after 104 weeks. The question of the constitutionality of the law was not raised in Hadley, so it was not addressed. Westphal’s attorney seeing the opening the Hadley decision had created, questioned the constitutionality of the 104 week limitation on temporary total disability benefits.

FREE DOWNLOAD: “5-Step Sequence to Coordinate Return-to-Work
with ADA Compliance”

New Law Required 260 Weeks of Temporary Total Disability

The DCA when given the opportunity to review the constitutionality of the 104 weeks of temporary total disability benefits decided the statute could not stand as written. The DCA decision was based on workers’ compensation being the exclusive remedy for injured workers without giving the injured worker a system to redress for the economic damages incurred after the 104 weeks of temporary total disability are exhausted. By declaring the temporary total disability limitation as unconstitutional, the court revived the 1991 temporary total disability law requiring employers/insurers to pay 260 weeks of temporary total disability benefits.

In what was probably an oversight by the DCA, they did not address the constitutionality of temporary partial disability being limited to 104 weeks, only temporary total disability. The affect the temporary total disability decision will have on TPD is unknown at this time, but we would speculate an enterprising employee’s attorney will now definitely question the constitutionality of TPD being limited to 104 weeks and will achieve the same results as Westphal.

Fortunately, the DCA did rule that their decision applies to the Westphal case and future cases, but declined to make their decision retroactive to prior work comp claims that have become final. The DCA decision is final and binding.  However, in Florida, whenever a District Court declares a statute to be unconstitutional, there is an automatic Supreme Court review. Unless, the Supreme Court overrules the DCA, all open and future claims will be governed by this DCA decision.

Employers Face Increase in Indemnity Exposure

Employers and insurers who have open temporary total disability claims where the employee now seeks to continue temporary total disability benefits beyond 104 weeks should have their defense attorney stay or continue any hearings on the issue until the Supreme Court rules.

The major immediate impact of the DCA decision is the increase in indemnity exposure to employers and insurers. This will increase settlement value of all open temporary total disability claims as the plaintiff attorneys will know the employer/insurer has much more to lose if they do not settle with the injured employee. A secondary impact is the impetus it will provide to seriously injured employees in Florida to malinger.

Author Michael B. Stack, CPA, Director of Operations, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in employer communication systems and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. He is a writer, speaker, and website publisher.  www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com.  Contact: mstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.

©2013 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law.

FREE DOWNLOAD: “5-Step Sequence to Coordinate Return-to-Work
with ADA Compliance”

Filed Under: Integrated Disability Management

Related Articles

Disability Planning Services in Workers’ Compensation

Disability Planning Services in Workers’ Compensation

6 Ways to Break Down Organizational Silos to Reduce Workers’ Comp Costs

6 Ways to Break Down Organizational Silos to Reduce Workers’ Comp Costs

9 Steps to Integrate Your Absence Management Policies

9 Steps to Integrate Your Absence Management Policies

Warning For Employers: Social Security Problems & Consequences For Workers Comp

Warning For Employers: Social Security Problems & Consequences For Workers Comp

Little Used Federal Laws Give Employer Disability Management Control

Little Used Federal Laws Give Employer Disability Management Control

A New Opportunity in Workers Compensation For Trucking

A New Opportunity in Workers Compensation For Trucking

If Obesity Is A Disease – What Are The Work Comp Consequences?

If Obesity Is A Disease – What Are The Work Comp Consequences?

Should SSDI Approval Equal Work Comp Total Disability Approval in NY

Should SSDI Approval Equal Work Comp Total Disability Approval in NY

3 Types of Medical Exams Employers Have Not Heard Of

3 Types of Medical Exams Employers Have Not Heard Of

Costs and Benefits of Integrated Disability Management

Costs and Benefits of Integrated Disability Management

Maximizing the Value of Onsite Health Services

Maximizing the Value of Onsite Health Services

Predicting Disability Using Medical Treatment Guidelines

Predicting Disability Using Medical Treatment Guidelines

Free Download

5-Step Sequence to Coordinate Return-to-Work with ADA Compliance - FREE Download Click Here Now!

Train to Succeed

BECOME CERTIFIED IN WORKERS’ COMPENSATION

Proven Course Catalog & WC Toolbox Give You The Power To Achieve Lower Costs and Better Injured Worker Outcomes

VISIT WORKERS' COMP TRAINING CENTER

Previous Post: « Fine For Employee Deaths Amounts To Slap On The Wrist
Next Post: Workers Comp Fraud Lands Injured Worker in Jail »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

FREE DOWNLOAD

5-Step Sequence to Coordinate Return-to-Work with ADA Compliance - FREE Download Click Here Now!

Our Sponsors

Catastrophic Care Management, Complex Care, and Specialty Networks
 

Hiring and Return to Work Testing
 

Medcor

Injury Triage, Onsite Clinics
 

Broadspire

Workers’ Comp 3rd-Party Administrator
 

Ametros

Post-Settlement Administration
 

Medicare Secondary Payer Services

Read Our Award-Winning Blog

Blog Categories

Search Our Archive

Subscribe to Our FREE Newsletter

Footer

Search Our Archive

Search our continually growing archive of over 2500 articles about Workers' Comp issues.

Quiclinks

  • Calculators
  • Terms & Abbreviations
  • Glossary of WC Premium Terms
  • WC Resources
  • Best Practices
  • Industries

RSS Recent Blog Posts

  • Implement These Safety Training Guidelines
  • Small Communication Improvements Lead to Large Workers’ Comp Savings
  • Identify And Correct Workers’ Comp Litigation Drivers
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FEE NEWSLETTER
Let Us Help You Stomp Down the High Cost of Workers' Comp!
Top of Page ↑
  • Home
  • Training Center
  • Get Started
  • Membership
  • Products
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Login
Copyright © 2021 Amaxx, LLC. All Rights Reserved. · Privacy Policy / Legal Notice