Florida Workers' Compensation Lawyer Blog

For many years, Florida law enforcement officers and firefighters have benefited from the "heart and lung bill" presumption in the Florida workers' compensation laws. Specifically, the law presumes that heart disease and hypertension are work related, if the injured party is a firefighter or law enforcement officer. This presumption makes it far easier for these law enforcement and firefighters to get the benefits that they deserve.

New medical evidence now supports the fact that police officers, who face extreme stress on a regular basis, are at an increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Many police officers are currently enrolled in the Buffalo CardioMetabolic-Occupational Police Stress ("BCOPS") Study. The project is being conducted by the University of Buffalo.

Many firefighters and police officers in Boca Raton and Palm Beach County have regularly received workers' compensation benefits, as a result of the "heart and lung bill" presumption. More recently, the benefit was expanded to include correction officers.

There is no doubt that South Florida workers are feeling the grips of recession. Florida's unemployment rate is 5.5%, compared to only 4.2% one year ago. That is a loss of 78,100 jobs. Palm Beach County has been the most impacted, with an unemployment rate of 6%, compared with 4.5% last year. Broward County's unemployment rate is similar.

What is the impact of recession and unemployment on workers' compensation claims? According to the National Council on Compensation Insurance, Inc. ("NCCI"), based on 50 years of data, Florida workers' compensation claims decline during recession. The reasons for this phenomenon are unclear, but it is believed to be due to a slower rate of new hiring and lower claims filing by workers who were not laid off.

In other words, during a recession, injured workers don't want to "rock the boat" and file a claim and hire a workers' compensation attorney. A poll of business executives called the Wausau Multiline Productivity Poll, recently concluded that 60% of respondents believed that they would save money on workers' compensation claims during the current recession!

Continue reading " Florida law prohibits punishing or terminating workers for seeking workers' compensation benefits " »

If you ask any Florida Workers' Compensation attorney, they will tell you that back, also known as lumbar injuries, are the most common. That has certainly been the case in my practice. Many Florida workers, from a secretary to a construction laborer, are prone to back injuries. In fact, back injuries and pain are the most common reason for absences from work, second only to the common cold.

According to NIOSH (the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health), it is not recommended that any worker lift more than 50 pounds, without assistance. The law offices of Randy Zeldin recommends that Florida workers ask the employer for help and assistance, if ever asked to lift greater than 50 pounds. Although this might antagonize some employers, it is your back!

NIOSH also recommends the following to prevent on the job back injuries:

1. Lifting should be done by bending the knees. Keeping one's elbows as close as feasible to the side of your body helps keep the object near the center of gravity and forces use of one's knees.

2. Strengthening of the muscles that support the spine is very important. Florida workers are encouraged to do back, abdominal and buttocks exercises.

The great majority of lumbar injuries will heal after a few months. If symptoms worsen or include leg pain, weakness or numbness, this could be a serious injury requiring a specialist. In my practice, I have seen too many family and general practitioners handle back injuries, long after it would have been appropriate to have a neurologist or orthopedist on the case. The law offices of Randy Zeldin has had to litigate many cases to bring a lumbar or back specialist into the case.

South Florida is proud of the major contributions made to its economic and cultural life made by the large Hispanic populations in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties. I am proud to have represented many, many Hispanic workers at the law offices of Randy Zeldin. Recently, I represented a Latino gentleman from Mexico, who fell from a roof and sustained serious fractures and other injuries. In questioning this worker who spoke no English, it became apparent that he was untrained for the dangerous work he was asked to perform. Had the Employer made the effort, it is likely that his injuries could have been avoided.

I became curious about rates of injuries among Hispanic workers, who are often engaged in dangerous jobs. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the fatality rate for Hispanic employees was 5.0 per 100,000 workers, compared with 4.0 per 100,00 workers for the general population. Foreign born Hispanic workers have a much higher rate of death than even native-born Hispanic workers, based on data from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Continue reading " Florida's Hispanic Workers Face High Fatality Rates " »

The law office of Randy Zeldin recently represented an electrical worker who suffered severe injuries as the result of an electrocution. This worker came to Florida from the Midwest, to help with rebuilding the electrical grid caused by devastating hurricanes in 2005. Unfortunately, the workers was reinstalling an electrical wire and suffered burns and orthopedic injuries.

I decided to do some research and came across some surprising facts. According to the National Institute for Safety and Health ("NIOSH"), contact with electricity is the fourth leading cause of death at construction sites. Further research revealed that electrocution death are highest among electrical power installers and earth drillers, as reported by the Center for Construction Research and Training ("CCRT"). CCRT also reports that the highest numbers of deaths among construction workers are found with electricians, construction laborers, supervisors/managers and electrical power repair persons.

Continue reading " Electrocution injuries pose threat to Florida workers " »

You may be surprised to learn, that America has one of the highest rates of work place accidents in the developed world. Florida in particular ranks near the bottom of all 50 States for workplace injuries, particularly construction related injuries. Although June was National Safety Month, nearly 4 out of every 10 American men have been wounded at work! This means that 36% of ALL American male workers have suffered or continue to suffer from on the job injuries. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has catalogued more than 4 million non-fatal workers' compensation injuries in 2006. Of those work place injuries, BLS reports that 43% of injured workers' missed more than one week of work and an incredible 31% were out of work for more than one month! Think of the burden on these injured workers and their families!

There are many reasons for this disturbing trend. Under the administration of Pres. George W. Bush, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration ("OSHA") has been slashed in terms of budget and effort. In prior years, the local Florida OSHA officials were quite diligent about investigating serious on the job injuries. Over the past couple of years, the law office of Randy Zeldin has witnessed a decline in investigations done by OSHA for job injuries. It seems that unless there is an actual death on the job, Florida OSHA officials are not interested and infrequently investigate.

Continue reading " The Florida workplace is dangerous! " »

The Florida Supreme Court is poised to hand down an historic decision, which will have great impact on the benefits that injured Florida workers will get or not get. The case, Murray v. Mariners Health, will decide whether the Florida Judges of Compensation Claims can award attorney fees to injured workers, based on the number of hours the Claimant's attorney has spent litigating issues in the case. In the Murray case, the injured worker Ms. Murray was denied all benefits by her insurance carrier. After nearly 85 hours of litigation, the Judge of Compensation Claims ruled for Ms. Murray and she received all workers' compensation benefits to which she was entitled. Her diligent attorney however, was only awarded $684.84, which is equal to $8.11 per hour!

The Murray case is part of a trend I have seen in my 23 years of practice: smaller benefits for injured workers and small fees for the attorneys representing them. Unfortunately, the biggest blow to injured workers was the handiwork of former Gov. Jeb Bush and his Republican allies in the Florida Legislature who devastated the workers' compensation law beginning October 31, 2003. This law, known as Senate Bill 50A, heavily limited many rights and benefits of injured workers.

Continue reading " Florida Injured Workers in Hands of Florida Supreme Court " »