Palm Beach and Broward Professional Athletes Often Without Workers' Compensation
Professional athletes in Florida, including Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties, are excluded from Florida workers' compensation benefits under the law. Although some professional Florida athletes have multi-million dollar contracts, this is not true for minor league and "rookie" players. There are many local professional athletes such as the Jupiter Hammerheads and the Palm Beach Cardinals in baseball or in hockey, the Florida Everglades, who are at the lower end of professional athletic pay. These professional athletes add to the quality of life and contribute greatly to the local economy.
Some Florida athletic teams voluntarily give workers' compensation benefits gratuitously. The law office of Randy Zeldin represented a famous Brazilian soccer player, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament of his knee. Although his contract provided for workers' compensation benefits, Mr. Zeldin had to litigate entitlement to the benefits. Unfortunately for that soccer player, his injury ended his career. Thanks to the workers' compensation benefits he received, he was able to start a new life in Rio!
