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December 4, 2024   Small business owners have had a mostly positive reaction to a judge’s decision to strike down an overtime rule that would have qualified more workers for overtime pay.   On Nov. 15, a federal judge in Texas blocked a new rule from the Biden administration that would have expanded access to overtime pay to millions more salaried workers across the U.S. Nearly all hourly workers in the U.S. are entitled to overtime pay after 40 hours a week. But many salaried workers are exempt from that requirement — unless they earn below a certain level.   The now-scuttled rule would have marked the biggest increase to that cap in decades. As of July 1, employers were required to pay overtime to staffers who make $43,888 a year in certain executive, administrative and professional roles — and that would have risen to $58,656 a year as of Jan. 1. But now the previous threshold of $35,568 — which was set in 2019 under the Trump administration — is back in effect.   The judge said the department could not prioritize employee wages over job duties when determining eligibility.

December 3, 2024   HENDRY COUNTY, Fla. —  A man died after falling from a piece of heavy machinery along a South Florida Water Management Reservoir construction site near LaBelle Tuesday morning.   According to the Hendry County Sheriff's Office, a call came to 911 at 3:38 a.m., reporting that a man had fallen while working on a machine and was severely injured and had possibly died.   We flew Sky2 above to see what equipment is on the property, but neither the Hendry County Sheriff’s Office nor OSHA have identified the worker who died.   “The first thing they do they are going to ask about it was he wearing his PPE, personal protective equipment,” Florida Gulf Coast University Construction Management professor and OSHA trainer said.   Shaheen said it is important to update safety gear.   “Our equipment has to be up to date and valid,” he said. “Sometimes the old sometimes is a rip in the body.”   If there is an accident, that is when lawyers like Joe North step in. He has seen his fair share of construction site injuries and deaths.   “The good news, if there is any good news, is that worker's compensation has to make a family as whole as possible,” injury lawyer Joe North said. “And, of course, it's never 100%. But in terms of providing for the dependents, the kids, the spouse, because there's a whole that's left now, not just in terms of the emotional part of it, but also the financial part of it.”   Osha could fine the company Phillips and Jordan if they are responsible.   “Well, if mistakes were made, hopefully, there are lessons to be learned from those mistakes so that this does not happen to another worker and another worker's family,” North said.   OSHA has investigated Phillips and Jordan before. Records show they had an accident at a site in Orlando last year and had to pay a $10,000 fine in West Virginia in 2019.

December 2, 2024   JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville brothers have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit tax fraud related to a Jacksonville roofing business that they operated following a joint investigation with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Jacksonville.   Travis Morgan Slaughter and Tripp Charles Slaughter, both of Jacksonville, each face a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison for the tax fraud offense and up to 20 years’ imprisonment for the mail and wire fraud offense. A sentencing date has not yet been set.   Travis Slaughter has agreed to forfeit $2,780,947 in proceeds he obtained from the mail and wire fraud offense and to pay restitution of $6,768,612 for the payroll tax loss, $2,780,947 for unpaid workers’ compensation insurance premiums, and $271,217 for two paid workers’ compensation claims.   Tripp Slaughter has agreed to forfeit to the United States $416,800 in proceeds he obtained from the mail and wire fraud offense and to pay restitution of $623,269 for the payroll tax loss, $416,800 for unpaid workers’ compensation insurance premiums, and $137,778 for a paid workers’ compensation claim.   According to their plea agreements, since 2007 the Slaughters have operated a roofing business in Jacksonville, first under the name “Great White Construction,” then under the name “Florida Roofing Experts,” and finally under the name “5 Star Roofing Services.” Although the names changed, each business operated in the same manner, banked at the same financial institutions, and employed the same employees.   The company contracted with professional employer organizations to prepare payroll checks for employees, after making deductions for payroll taxes, and to file payroll tax returns and forward tax payments to governmental authorities. However, the company did not provide the professional employer organizations with information about all the hours worked by, or all the wages due to, its employees. Instead, the company also paid the employees directly, with separate checks drawn on company bank accounts, and did not deduct payroll taxes from these checks. By paying employees with “split checks” — one from the professional employer organizations and one from the company — the company avoided paying the full amount of payroll taxes due to the IRS.   During the period of January 2017 through July 2020, the professional employer organizations issued payroll checks to the employees totaling approximately $4,930,613, after deducting and paying over to the IRS the payroll taxes due. During that same period, the company issued checks to the employees totaling approximately $18,545,845, with no payroll taxes being deducted or paid. The total unpaid payroll taxes on that amount were $2,768,377.   The professional employer organizations also secured workers’ compensation insurance coverage for the company. The premiums charged by the workers’ compensation insurers were based on the total amount of payroll that the company reported to the professional employer organizations. If the company had reported the actual amount of payroll, the insurers would have charged additional premiums totaling $2,780,947.   In addition to causing the company to underreport their payroll to the IRS, the Slaughters also underreported their personal income to the IRS. For the tax years 2014 through 2019, the total unpaid taxes due on Travis Slaughter’s unreported income totaled $2,467,183. For the tax years 2015 through 2019, the total unpaid taxes due on Tripp Slaughter’s unreported income totaled $263,614.   This case was investigated by HSI Jacksonville, the IRS – Criminal Investigation, Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General, and the Florida Department of Financial Services. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Arnold B. Corsmeier. The asset forfeiture is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer M. Harrington.   HSI Tampa’s area of responsibility, which includes 10 geographically strategic offices, covers more than 51,600 square miles of the total 65,757 square miles in the state of Florida. This region has more than 14.2 million people and includes 58 of the 67 counties. HSI Tampa also includes five of the 10 largest cities in Florida, 15 primary commercial service airports, and 11 seaports.

November 25, 2024   TAMPA, Fla. – A Florida woman was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison for a conspiracy to commit wire fraud following a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Tampa investigation.   Wendy Cudemo, 48, of Orlando, was sentenced to 27 months and ordered to forfeiture $787,911.00 in proceeds from the wire fraud conspiracy. The court also ordered the forfeiture of real property located in Palmetto, Fla. Cudemo pled guilty on July 16, 2024.   According to court documents, Cudemo owned and managed a construction company which purported to supply construction services and labor for construction contractors and subcontractors. In order to comply with Florida law, Cudemo’s company was required to secure and maintain adequate worker’s compensation insurance coverage. Her company had agreements with contractors and subcontractors to use workers purported to be Cudemo’s employees at construction sites. These workers were often undocumented non-citizens who were working for and under the daily supervision and direction of the contractors. Cudemo or others would then regularly receive “payroll checks” from contractors that were cashed at various financial institutions to pay Cudemo’s purported “employees” and other related expenses.   During the period charged, Cudemo falsely and fraudulently represented in insurance applications that her company had a very limited payroll and a very limited number of employees who worked on construction jobsites. Cudemo also falsely and fraudulently sent wire communications to numerous contractors representing her company’s employees had full worker’s compensation coverage. Cudemo’s company received and cashed more than $7,800,000 in checks from various construction contractors for these purported Cudemo “employees.” These payroll figures far exceeded the very limited payroll figures that Cudemo had reported to her worker’s compensation insurance company. As a result, these employees, the employees of other entities, performed work on jobsites without adequate insurance coverage. In addition, the insurers lost premiums they would have charged had they been aware of the true number of workers their policies were thus being manipulated to cover.   As a result of these misrepresentations, Cudemo’s company also disclaimed responsibility for ensuring that jobsite workers were legally authorized to work in the United States and that required state and federal payroll taxes were being paid for these workers. The contractors who actually paid these workers’ wages and used their services were thus also able to avoid responsibility for those duties as well.   This case was investigated by HSI Tampa and the State of Florida Department of Financial Services. It is part of a lengthy investigation by those agencies into the use of shell companies and “ghost” employees in the construction industry. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay L. Hoffer.   HSI Tampa’s area of responsibility, which includes ten geographically strategic offices, covers more than 51,600 square miles of the total 65,757 square miles in the state of Florida. This portion of the state of Florida is inhabited by more than 14.2 million people and includes 58 of the 67 counties. HSI Tampa also includes five of the ten largest cities in Florida, 15 primary commercial service airports and 11 seaports.

November 21, 2024   The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation said it has approved a 1 percent decrease in overall workers’ compensation insurance rates for 2025.   In a prepared statement released Monday, Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworsky said it will be the eighth consecutive year of rate reductions.   He said the workers’ compensation insurance market “is stable and competitive. A further reduction in workers’ compensation rates will assist new and existing businesses in Florida find success."   The National Council on Compensation Insurance, which makes rate filings for the industry, submitted a proposal in August that called for an overall 1 percent rate decrease.   A summary by the organization described the workers’ compensation system as “healthy” and said that while “consumer inflation has been elevated, the inflation for workers’ compensation medical costs remained stable.”   It also said a combination of continued claims “frequency declines and moderate benefit costs at or below the level of wage growth,have continued to put downward pressure on overall WC (workers’ compensation) system costs relative to collected premiums.”   The summary said a law passed this year (SB 362) to increase maximum workers’ compensation reimbursements for physicians affected the NCCI proposal. Without the law, it said the proposal would have been for an overall 6.4 percent decrease.   Copyright 2024 Health News Florida

November 19, 2024   Florida employers will soon see the smallest decrease in workers’ compensation rates in years – just a 1% reduction from current overall rates in the voluntary market.   The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation announced Monday that the insurance commissioner had given final approval to the decrease, which was recommended in August by the National Council on Compensation Insurance. “F” classes, for employers that do maritime or federal work, will see a 13.9% average rate decrease.   The new rates take effect Jan. 1 for new and renewal workers’ compensation policies. Individual employers’ premiums will vary depending on injury experience, type of work, and other factors.   The latest decrease, while unusually small, reflects a cumulative drop of almost 78% since 2003, the NCCI said in its presentation to OIR. That year, 2003, was the year the Florida legislature made historic changes to workers’ compensation laws, reducing costs for many businesses.   The latest rate is the eighth straight year for workers’ comp rate rate reductions in the state and follows a 15.1% average cut in 2024 and an 8.4% decrease in 2023.   The small size of the 2025 decrease was due in large part to Florida Senate Bill 362, approved early this year, which raised reimbursement for worker-treating physicians for the first time in several years. The maximum payments to doctors who care for injured workers jumped from 110% of Medicare’s reimbursement level to 175%, and came after years of debate by insurers and physicians’ advocates.   Without that increase in reimbursement, the overall comp rate decrease for Florida would have been about 6.4%, the NCCI explained.   The 2025 rate recommendation was based on data from policy years 2021 and 2021. The NCCI, which recommends rates and loss cost decreases for 38 states, said that lost-time claim frequency has continued to decrease in Florida and most states. Across the country, claim severity changes have been moderate.   The tiny rate cut may come as welcome news to some employers. A member of the Florida Roofing and Sheet Metal Contractors Association last year warned that repeated, hefty rate cuts could lead to complacency among some contractors and does not reflect the fact that many construction injuries are unreported.

November 11, 2024   A Florida roofing company owner and payroll administrator have both pleaded guilty to fraud against the IRS totaling nearly $2.5 million.   The court documents and associated statements declare that William Skaggs Jr. owned and operated Nastar Roofing, a Fort Myers roofing company. The office administrator, Billie Adkison, led the company’s payroll and other financial tasks.   Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg for the Middle District of Florida announced the pair’s guilty plea in their attempt to defraud the United States government. Pair plead guilty in $2.5 million IRS fraud   It is alleged that between 2013 and 2023, Nastar employees, including Skaggs and Adksion, “withdrew over $21 million from the company’s bank accounts to pay employees predominantly in cash without withholding Social Security, Medicare, and federal income taxes from those wages. They did this to avoid paying employment taxes they knew were legally required,” said the Justice Department.   Cash wages were also not declared despite Nastar using a payroll provider to record the transactions. So, when the payroll provider provided tax returns, the IRS was unaware of the unrecorded cash wages that were distributed to multiple sources.   Skaggs and Adkinson were signatories on the tax returns, and they did not inform the IRS of the additional outgoings as cash wages. So, their signatures on the payroll company and their own payroll accounts were false submissions to the government regulator.   It is presumed that the IRS lost $2.5 million in incorrect and false submissions. Both individuals will be sentenced at a later date, and they face five years in prison for the fraudulent submissions.   IRS Criminal Investigation leads the investigation into the finer details of the fraud, along with Trial Attorney Kevin Schneider of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Leeman for the Middle District of Florida.

November 4, 2024   Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge William F. Jung has sentenced Wendy Cudemo (48, Orlando) to 27 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The Court also entered an order of forfeiture in the amount of $787,911.00, the proceeds of the wire fraud conspiracy and ordered the forfeiture to the United States of real property located in Palmetto, Florida. Cudemo pled guilty on July 16, 2024.   According to court documents, Cudemo owned and managed a construction company which purported to supply construction services and labor for construction contractors and subcontractors. In order to comply with Florida law, Cudemo’s company was required to secure and maintain adequate worker’s compensation insurance coverage. Her company had agreements with contractors and subcontractors to use workers purported to be Cudemo’s employees at construction sites and these workers were often undocumented aliens who were actually working for and under the daily supervision and direction of the contractors. Cudemo or others would then regularly receive “payroll checks” from contractors that were cashed at various financial institutions to pay Cudemo’s purported “employees” and other related expenses.   During the period charged, Cudemo falsely and fraudulently represented in insurance applications that her company had a very limited payroll and a very limited number of employees who worked on construction jobsites. Cudemo also falsely and fraudulently sent wire communications to numerous contractors representing that her company’s employees had full worker’s compensation coverage. In reality, Cudemo’s company received and cashed more than $7,800,000 in checks from various construction contractors for these purported Cudemo “employees.” These payroll figures far exceeded the very limited payroll figures that Cudemo had reported to her worker’s compensation insurance company. As a result, these employees, in reality the employees of other entities, performed work on jobsites without adequate insurance coverage. In addition, the insurers lost premiums they would have charged had they been aware of the true number of workers their policies were thus being manipulated to cover.   As a result of these misrepresentations, Cudemo’s company also disclaimed responsibility for ensuring that jobsite workers were legally authorized to work in the United States and that required state and federal payroll taxes were being paid for these workers. The contractors who actually paid these workers’ wages and used their services were thus also able to avoid responsibility for those duties as well.   This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the State of Florida Department of Financial Services. It is part of a lengthy investigation by those agencies into the use of shell companies and “ghost” employees in the construction industry. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jay L. Hoffer.

November 4, 2024   Washington — Employers can help prevent the spread of common respiratory viruses indoors by ensuring proper workplace ventilation and limiting the use of small, shared spaces, the Environmental Protection Agency says.   Updated guidance from EPA states that respiratory viruses can spread more easily indoors because of people’s proximity to one another as well as the possible buildup of “viral concentration.” Through recommendations intended for workplaces, schools and homes, the agency outlines multiple strategies to help control the spread via a multilayered approach.   Read more