The Florida Supreme Court this week considered two cases that challenged a critical component of the workers’ compensation system, updated through legislative changes made in 2003.
For all cases, plaintiffs asserted that legislators “have gone too far” in taking away the rights and benefits of those injured on the job through the 2003 changes. Business groups replied to the accusations, saying that the changes made helped avert a so-called crisis in declining workers’ compensation rates.
“A reversion to pre-2003 law would only cause the ‘crisis’ to arise again, thereby increasing the costs of insurance, directly impacting the affordability of coverage for Florida employers, and reducing the guaranteed protection of workers for work-related injuries,” said a brief prepared by the attorneys for Hialeah Hospital and
Sedgwick Claims Management Services—the two respondents in the case.
One of the plaintiffs, a former Hialeah Hospital nurse whose work-related back injury prompted the case, insisted in a brief that premiums decrease far more than anticipated when the 2003 law was passed. Subsequently, lost benefits were not restored for injured workers following the law’s implementation, the plaintiff added.
Another plaintiff, who in 2009 suffered on-the-job injuries during an altercation with another worker, challenged the constitutionality of limits on attorneys’ fees in workers’ compensation disputes.
In another case, the plaintiff was a firefighter who raised concerns over the two-year limit on “temporary total disability” benefits. According to the plaintiff, he received the benefits but had to sit through months without any more benefits until permanent aid could be secured.
According to palmbeachpost.com, two-dozen groups have signed on to friend-of-the-court briefs. The constitutional challenges raised by the plaintiffs were supported by groups like the Florida Justice Association, the Police Benevolent Association, the Fraternal Order of Police and the Florida Professional Firefighters. Groups opposing the challenge include the Associated Industries of Florida, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business and the Florida League of Cities.
