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Mac Johnson, 50, of Newberry, Florida, pled guilty yesterday afternoon to tax fraud, wire fraud, structuring financial transactions to evade reporting requirements, and harboring undocumented aliens. The guilty plea was announced by Christopher P. Canova, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida. Johnson, who owns roofing, tree service, and dumpster businesses, devised a scheme to conceal the amount of wages earned by his undocumented alien employees to avoid paying more than $1.7 million in federal income, Medicare, and social security taxes, as well as more than $1 million in Florida worker’s compensation premiums. Johnson concealed the wages from the State of Florida by inaccurately and incompletely identifying all employees, representing that lower wages were paid than the true amounts, and paying by cash or a non-payroll check in amounts of less than $10,000 to avoid reporting requirements. Click to read more:

Insurance companies in the worker’s compensation sector are increasingly interested in adding digital health tools to monitor and assess employees. Travelers insurance reflects this trend with its move to adopt telemedicine services. The idea is to give qualified injured employees an alternative to going to an emergency room and reduce healthcare costs. Click to read more:

Two scathing investigations just revealed that when one of Florida’s 600,000 illegal immigrants gets hurt on the job, his employer generally turns him over to the authorities for deportation. Employers dispose of injured illegal laborers to avoid paying workman’s compensation. No worker deserves to be treated this way. It’s time to fix a broken immigration system that allows corporations to exploit illegal immigrants for their cheap labor while suppressing the wages of citizens and legal residents. Major reforms are needed to protect workers of all backgrounds from such corporate greed. Companies across the Sunshine State have recruited illegal immigrants -- and then dumped them once they became a liability. A new investigation from the Naples Daily News found more than 160 instances since 2004 in which illegal immigrants were charged by law enforcement after sustaining an injury. In almost all of those cases, the worker was turned in by his or her employer or the employer’s insurance company. Click to read more:

A Chapter 11 reorganization plan has been approved for Fort Lauderdale-based Patriot National, but it doesn’t include severance pay for 250 employees of the insurance services firm who found themselves terminated on the day before last Thanksgiving. “We haven’t seen a nickel from Patriot,” said Judy Pidgeon, one of the 250 laid-off workers. The layoffs affected workers at the company’s Fort Lauderdale headquarters and in at least six other divisions across the United States. Click to read more:

Two unlawfully present Honduran nationals were sentenced Wednesday for conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their roles in a scheme that created shell companies to mask the unauthorized employment of workers in the construction industry. This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Jacksonville office. Click to read more:

The Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) has received the 2019 Florida workers’ compensation rate filing by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), which proposes a statewide average premium decrease of 13.4%. The new rates would become effective January 1, 2019. As always, OIR will review the filing to ensure the proposed changes are not excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory and evaluate its potential effects on the insurance marketplace and employers, who are required by law to carry this insurance on their employees. A public rate hearing will be conducted in October. Click to read more:

A Florida woman was arrested in August and charged with three felony counts of concealing payroll to avoid workers’ compensation premiums and two felony counts of application fraud, according to a statement from the Florida Department of Financial Services. Florida Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis announced on Aug. 31 the arrest of Vanessa Arreguin, 25, owner of V&G Concrete, Inc. for workers’ compensation fraud. Click to read more:

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) urges response crews and residents in the areas affected by Hurricane Michael to be aware of hazards created by flooding, power loss, structural damage, fallen trees, and storm debris. "Employers and employees must be aware and trained to deal with the hazards involved in storm cleanup," said OSHA Regional Administrator Kurt Petermeyer. "The risk of injuries, illnesses, and fatalities can be minimized with knowledge, safe work practices, and appropriate personal protective equipment." Click here to read more:

Pointing to a need to stay focused on the aftermath of Hurricane Michael, the state Office of Insurance Regulation has canceled a public hearing slated for Wednesday on a proposed reduction in workers’ compensation insurance rates. The office will accept written comments until Oct. 26 about the proposed 13.4 percent average rate decrease, which would take effect in January. Click to read more:

A recently-released analysis of workers’ comp claim frequency tells us what we’ve known for years – the percentage of workers that gets hurt on the job has been and continues to drop. Yet one major insurer indicates there are warning signs that frequency may be ticking back up, albeit in a tightly defined sector of the economy. More on that below. Click here to read more:

Twenty individuals were arrested in Florida in a workers’ compensation insurance fraud sting operation involving unlicensed contractors in Pasco County in “Operation Hot Water,” according to a statement from Florida Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis on Sept. 27. The arrests came after a joint sting operation conducted by the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office (PSO) and the Bureau of Insurance Fraud, along with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) and the Pasco County Building Department. Investigators caught contractors agreeing to perform work without a license and without workers’ compensation insurance coverage. The 20 individuals were arrested for allegedly contracting without a license and failure to secure workers’ compensation insurance coverage. Click here to read more:

Florida businesses to see a drop in workers' compensation rates - Tampa Bay Business Journal StartFragment Florida businesses will get a break on their insurance bills starting in January. The state Office of Insurance Regulation announced late Friday that it has decided to approve an overall 13.8 percent decrease in workers’ compensation insurance rates for 2019. That is a slightly larger cut than a 13.4 percent decrease proposed in August by the National Council on Compensation Insurance, an organization that makes rate proposals for the insurance industry. Click here to read more: