A Florida appeals court said Wednesday that highway maintenance contractor VMS Inc. could assert workers' compensation immunity in a negligence suit filed by a sub-subcontractor's employee because VMS had fulfilled its statutory duty by securing coverage for its subcontractor. Florida's Third District Court of Appeal reversed a lower court's partial summary judgment ruling that said VMS was estopped from asserting workers' compensation immunity because it had not reported the incident to its compensation carrier. Click here to read more:

Florida’s workers’ compensation insurers, already on record recommending an average 2.5 percent cut in rates, now say that a 3.3 percent cut is justified. The modification in the industry’s rate filing by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) rating organization is the result of lower than expected hospital charges that could save insurers about 0.8 percent or $26 million. Click here to read more:

A South Florida appeals court Monday heard arguments in a challenge to the constitutionality of the state’s workers-compensation insurance system — as two other closely watched challenges also await rulings at the Florida Supreme Court. The 3rd District Court of Appeal took up a case in which a Miami-Dade County circuit judge ruled last year that a key underpinning of workers-compensation laws was unconstitutional. That underpinning involves cases being handled through the workers-compensation insurance system instead of through civil lawsuits. Click here to read more:

Natasha Hallett was a longtime performer at Cirque du Soleil, playing a key role in the circus giant’s La Nouba show in Orlando, Fla. Then she made a mistake. Ms. Hallett says she forgot to put a double loop through her harness for a flying trick, and a colleague didn’t notice the oversight during a safety check. She tumbled about 40 feet to the stage during a Cirque performance, shattering 19 bones from the waist down. “Like a horse that broke its leg, once you are injured you are pretty much no good for them anymore,” Ms. Hallett said. Click here to read more:

The severity of workers' compensation claims are increasing at a higher rate in Florida than across the country, according to a report from Aon Risk Solutions. While the severity of claims is rising by 2 percent across the United States, in Florida, it is rising at about 3 percent a year and that rate could rise dramatically in the coming years. The state's workers' compensation system may undergo a big change on March 30, when Florida is set to appeal a 2014 decision that declared the system unconstitutional. Click here to read more:

One year ago when the Foreword to the 2014 Edition of Dubreuil’s Florida Workers’ Compensation Handbook (LexisNexis) was prepared we noted two significant cases being watched by the workers’ compensation community. Somewhat surprisingly both cases are still pending and are awaiting a decision by the Florida Supreme Court. The Court takes its annual recess in August and it is looking like decisions in both cases may not be forthcoming until later in 2015. Click here to read more:

In South Florida, investigators from the Florida Department of Financial Services are increasingly showing up on construction projects to investigate insurance fraud claims under the provisions of Chapter 440, Florida Statutes. These state agents have broad powers, including, but not limited to: entering a project site without a search warrant, questioning employees, requesting project records, and issuing stop work orders. Click here to read more:

Ten prominent Democratic lawmakers, including presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, are urging the U.S. secretary of labor to come up with a plan to ensure that state workers’ compensation programs are properly caring for injured workers. Click here to read more:

On November 3, 2015, the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) issued an order denying NCCI’s proposed 1.9% rate decrease and requested NCCI make an amended filing for an overall workers compensation rate level decrease of 5.1%, effective January 1, 2016. Click here to read more:

As an indication of the potential high stakes in a workers-compensation insurance case, some of the state's most influential business groups and the Florida League of Cities have been approved during the past week to file friend-of-the-court briefs with the state Supreme Court. The case, which stems from injuries suffered in 2003 by Hialeah Hospital nurse Daniel Stahl, challenges the constitutionality of the workers-compensation system. Click here to read more:

A Hialeah Hospital nurse hasn’t taken the necessary steps for the Florida Supreme Court to hear his challenge to provisions of the state’s workers’ compensation law, the hospital and its claims administrator argued, saying his constitutional claims don’t save his fight for benefits. Daniel Stahl has to bring a declaratory relief action before the state’s highest court can consider the constitutionality of the Florida Workers’ Compensation Act, the hospital and Sedgwick Claims Management Services — the third-party administrator of its self-insured workers' compensation program — contended Wednesday. Click here to read more:

Promising workers lower health insurance premiums for losing weight did nothing to help them take off the pounds, a recent study found. At the end of a year, obese workers had lost less than 1.5 pounds on average, statistically no different than the minute average gain of a tenth of a pound for workers who weren’t offered a financial incentive to lose weight. Click here to read more: