A warning for anyone hiring contractors or construction crews: An operation in Southwest Florida nabbed five contractors accused of workers' compensation fraud. ​ Humberto Fumero is one of the five men arrested. A report says he ignored workers' compensation laws, allowing one man to work for his company with no coverage at all. ​ The arrests are part of a major push by the state to help protect workers' and consumers. Click here to read more:

Florida's workers' comp system is broken. Two state Supreme Court decisions striking down key parts of the system prove that. The Legislature can fix it. If, that is, lawmakers can bring the focus back to where it belongs – helping injured workers. ​ Lawmakers and businesses are quick to accuse the high court of overreach. The real overreach came when the Legislature, eager to stick it to lawyers who take workers' comp cases, "reformed" the system in ways that made it unconstitutionally difficult for injured workers to have their compensation cases settled fairly. Click here to read more:

As the chair-elect of the Workers' Compensation Section of the Florida Bar, I believe it is important to correct misconceptions regarding the workers' compensation system and the attorneys who represent injured Floridians. ​ ​The Florida Chamber of Commerce suggests that the workers' compensation rate increase approved by the new state insurance commissioner benefits only "billboard trial lawyers." Nothing could be further from the truth. Click here to read more:

Our company, UniMed Direct, has had an initiative for 2016 based upon Stephen M.R. Covey’s bestselling book The Speed of Trust. Our team experienced FranklinCovey training, which we highly recommend. But back to the book. If you have not read it, and you are in any type of business management, I suggest you get it and read it. One of the key “nuggets” from the book is the idea that when you extend trust to individuals, they generally respond better than if trust is withheld. Click here to read more:

I am the attorney who represented Daniel Stahl in his actions to eliminate Florida Statute Section 440.11. That is the section of the compensation law that makes workers' compensation the "exclusive remedy" for all on-the-job injuries. No attempt was made to have the entire act scrapped. Workers' compensation does work but for fewer and fewer injured workers with each set of "reforms." Since October 1974, every compensation enactment save one was intended to reduce benefits to injured workers. The one benefit that was increased was the death benefit. It was $100,000, and now it is $150,000. Someone please explain to me how the family of an injured worker, maybe a police officer or firefighter with a wife and two young children, can make it on what is about four years of compensation? Click here to read more:

The battle lines are being drawn. Or maybe they never went away. ​ But Florida senators Tuesday got a taste of the debate that will play out in the coming months among business, legal and labor groups as the Legislature looks at revamping the workers' compensation insurance system. ​ For business groups, the issue is about too much money going to attorneys who represent injured workers. For workers' attorneys, the issue is about insurers not properly paying claims. And for labor unions, the issue is about a system that has slashed benefits for people hurt on the job. Click here to read more:

While perusing the news early this morning I came across several articles related to reforms pending or proposed in two key states. One such article was discussing potential reforms in a state dominated by a Republican governor and legislature; another was discussing a state with a Republican Governor but a legislature permanently controlled by Democrats. The former article was largely focused on the efforts of the state Chamber of Commerce to protect their members. The latter article was written by a Democrat Representative of the State House. Despite these seemingly opposite political positions, the two articles sounded very much the same. Neither represented any imaginative approach to fixing the issues related to their specific systems. Quite honestly, they both could have been written about any state at any point over the last 30 years. Click here to read more:

It’s no secret to lawmakers, business owners and workers throughout the state that Florida’s workers’ compensation system is in need of reform. With the recent unnecessary rate hike in premiums for workers’ comp insurance, the state’s economy will suffer along with the looming potential for job loss. Recent coverage of the workers’ comp system has correctly focused on the lack of transparency and competition in the rate-making process. There is every indication that the quest for comprehensive workers’ comp reform, including a new rate-making process, will be one of the leading issues of the upcoming legislative session. Click here to read more: ​

After decades of managing costs for employers, it’s time for workers’ compensation professionals and public policymakers to turn their attention to the needs of injured workers and think of themselves more as players in a broader safety net, workers’ compensation experts were told last week. ​ Panelists and audience members at the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) conference in Boston stressed the need for a credible system for injured workers especially as other social safety nets including job security, employer-funded pensions and health insurance are being weakened. Click here to read more:

Legalized marijuana, whether medical or recreational, is finding its roots nationwide. In those states that have legalized medical and/or recreational marijuana, stakeholders across the workers compensation spectrum are keeping a close watch on how these new laws will impact their organizations and constituencies. Not the least among those affected are workers compensation insurers. Questions abound at both the state and federal levels as to how the changing legal landscape surrounding marijuana will translate into the workers compensation system. Click here to read more:

Rejecting arguments that Florida’s Sunshine Law was violated, an appeals court Tuesday upheld a 14.5 percent increase in workers’ compensation insurance rates that began to hit businesses in December. ​ A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal, in a 19-page decision, overturned a Leon County circuit judge’s ruling that would have invalidated the closely watched rate hike. Click here to read more:

Nearly a year after a Florida Supreme Court ruling rocked the state's workers' compensation insurance system, the House on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill aimed at holding down insurance rates for businesses. ​ The House, however, will need to reach agreement with the Senate on a final plan before the scheduled May 5 end of the annual legislative session. That will require lawmakers to bridge differences on thorny issues, including limits on attorney fees. Click here to read more: