Search Our Site

June 20, 2023 Employees who should've been paid $37 an hour were paid $25 an hour, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found. The subcontractor on a South Florida Water Management project owed workers $171,998 in cash and benefits after paying some employees only 67% of what they should have been paid, the U.S. Department of Labor announced. The money went to 11 people electricians employed by Clewiston’s Quality Electric Contracting. That’s an average of $15,636.18 in pay and benefits per person. Read More

June 9, 2023 For the first time in six years, Florida has a new health care provider reimbursement manual, governing workers’ compensation fees for doctors. But the manual already could be considered three years out of date. It also will soon face a legal challenge by insurers because of new physician dispensing rules in it. The Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation adopted the 2020 edition of the fee schedule manual in 2021, but under state law, the Legislature must ratify the changes if it is shown that they would cost businesses in the state more than a nominal amount. Until this spring, lawmakers had declined to act on the reimbursement plan since 2016, leaving Florida doctors who treat injured workers with some of the lowest payment schedules in the United States, officials have said. Read More

June 7, 2023 The owner of several Key West staffing companies is on his way to prison after a federal judge sentenced him to more than two years for hiring unauthorized alien workers and failing to pay taxes on their wages. Batyr Myatiev, who for 10 years supplied labor to hotels, bars and restaurants in the Keys, must also pay more than $6.8 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Attorney for south Florida said in a bulletin last week. The felony information filed in federal court said that Myatiev’s staffing companies signed contracts with the hospitality firms to provide more than 100 alien workers. Read More

June 7, 2023 Florida ranked third most dangerous state for construction workers. InsuranceRanked analyzed all 50 states and the District of Columbia and ranked them by injury, illness, and fatality rates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and inspection, citation, and penalty data from OSHA. According to data from 2021, the fatality rate for full-time construction laborers was 9.4 per 100,000 workers, making it the third-highest fatality rate among private industries. Construction work poses significant hazards, including working at heights and handling dangerous equipment. Given these circumstances, prioritizing construction safety has become increasingly crucial due to a convergence of various factors. Recently passed federal legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act is expected to increase the number of building and infrastructure projects significantly soon. This increased workload could put more laborers in harm’s way. Read more

May 31, 2023 The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $114,000 in back pay for 100 employee. An Orlando-based hotel staffing company that employs cleaning and maintenance workers unlawfully denied employees overtime, and has been ordered by the government to pay the workers what they’re owed — plus damages. The U.S. Department of Labor shared in a news release earlier this month that the agency had recovered $114,000 for 100 employees denied overtime pay. A federal investigation by the labor department’s Wage and Hour division found that APDC Cleaning Services Inc., a cleaning service company based in Orlando, failed to combine hours worked by 100 employees at several locations they service. Read more

May 17, 2023 According to one Florida business owner, all it took was the click of a mouse and the stroke of a keyboard for him to lose his company and its assets. SARASOTA, Fla. — Russ L’Hommedieu and his wife left New York for paradise. They quit their jobs and sold their home to live in sunny Florida. His dream was to own a lucrative boat towing company, so they made that happen and opened Cross Bay Marine. “On the Sunbiz profile, I was the incorporator and the president of the company, and I owned all of the shares,” L’Hommedieu said. That’s when he says their nightmare began. After months of hard work, someone hijacked his company. Read More