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A Miami-Dade judge struck a blow Wednesday against Florida’s workers’ comp law, which was already under attack on several fronts. A Miami judge declared Florida’s long-controversial workers’ compensation law unconstitutional saying successive state legislatures had so diminished medical care and wage-loss benefits for injured workers the statute now violates employees’ “fundamental” rights. Click here to read more:

Workers compensation exclusive remedy provisions, under attack in Florida and Oklahoma, face challenges in more states where workers comp reforms have reduced benefits. Often referred to as the “grand bargain,” exclusive remedy in most states means workers injured on the job can receive benefits only through the workers comp system. A liability lawsuit may be allowed in the case of gross employer negligence. Click here to read more:

Independent government and private-sector research and upcoming oral arguments in a highly anticipated case are raising questions about the equity of the U.S. workers compensation system and the long-term viability of exclusive remedy provisions. On Wednesday, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration released a report examining the toll workplace injuries and illnesses exact on society. The report concludes that accumulated changes in the states' workers comp programs have shifted the costs of treating injured workers away from employers, which now provide about 20% of the financial cost of treating workplace injuries and illnesses through workers comp. Click here to read more:

Determining whether an employee's illness is being caused by something in the workplace, making them eligible for workers compensation benefits, is a complicated and often inconclusive process. Employers hire Rene Salazar to investigate whether an employee's condition is related to their workplace when they have pending comp claims or lawsuits, the Tampa-based University of South Florida professor and microbiologist said Monday at the Workers' Compensation Institute conference in Orlando, Florida. Click here to read more:

How the workers comp system balances the rights of injured workers and employers will be a central theme during oral arguments inThe State of Florida vs. Florida Workers' Advocates et al. The state is appealing Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jorge Cueto's decision last August in which he declared the state's workers comp system unconstitutional because changes to it mean it does not provide “an adequate exclusive replacement remedy” in place of common-law torts. Original article no longer available

Two Miami brothers have been charged in a workers compensation scam. Jorge Hernandez-Gonzalez, 25, set up a shell business Hernago and Associates Inc. and then purchased a minimal worker’s compensation policy for it, according to Broward Sheriff’s investigators. Click here to read more:

Nine people were charged for advertising services without having workers compensation coverage, according to the Florida Department of Financial Services Division of Insurance Fraud. The arrests followed a three-day undercover sting ending Friday in Manatee County involving the Manatee County Sheriff's Office, Bradenton Police Department, Palmetto Police Department, Longboat Key Police Department, and several others. Click here to read more:

Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation has ordered a 5.1% workers compensation rate cut, disapproving the National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc.’s proposed 1.9% overall rate level decrease. Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin M. McCarty ordered Boca Raton, Florida-based NCCI to submit a new rate filing that contains a 5.1% reduction in rates no later than Nov. 9 to meet statutory timeframes for a Jan. 1 effective date, according to a Tuesday statement by the Office of Insurance Regulation. In the statement, Commissioner McCarty said the use of a 4% profit and contingencies provision in the filing is “excessive” and “does not adequately reflect investment income or unearned premium and loss reserves.” Click here to read more:

The latest workers compensation case accepted by the Florida Supreme Court may pose the biggest challenge yet to the state's exclusive remedy provision. The Florida Supreme Court last month agreed to consider Daniel Stahl v. Hialeah Hospital, which questions whether the state's workers comp system is adequate in light of 2003 reforms that eliminated permanent partial disability benefits. Click here to read more:

Private workers compensation insurers increased reserve funds last year as their aggregate combined ratio fell below 100% for the first time in nearly a decade, but observers remain concerned about the industry's overall loss reserve position. With a calendar-year combined ratio of 98% — improved from 102% in 2013 and 109% in 2012 — 2014 marked the first workers comp underwriting gain since 2006, according to a report released this month by the National Council on Compensation Insurance Inc. Click here to read more:

The Florida Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments in a case that questions whether the state’s workers compensation system is an adequate exclusive remedy for injured workers. Oral arguments in Daniel Stahl v. Hialeah Hospital will be heard on April 6, the Florida Supreme Court said Friday in a statement. Click here to read more:

A new initiative by U.S. federal agencies to prosecute companies and individuals who endanger the lives of their employees is drawing divergent opinions on its potential impact. The Department of Labor-Department of Justice initiative announced last month is aimed at addressing limits of workplace safety statutes including the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which allows criminal prosecutions only for willful violations resulting in an employee's death, giving advance notice of an OSHA inspection or falsifying documents. But such charges have been limited to misdemeanors with a maximum six-month jail term and $10,000 fine, which legal experts say has discouraged prosecutions. Click here to read more: