Recent Posts in Workers' Compensation Defense Posted By Rhett C. Metheney 3-Dec-2021 New Attorney Joins Firm Cristal Law Group is pleased to announce that Pamela A. Walton, Esq. has recently joined the firm. Pamela was born and raised in the Midwest. She obtained her BA from Kent State University in 1989 with a double major in Criminal Justice and English. ... Continue Reading Posted By Ben H. Cristal 24-Nov-2021 Surviving The Impact Of Covid-19: V. New Florida Law Restricts Employer Vaccine Mandates New Law The Federal government has been steadily creating more regulations to have various types of employers mandate their employees be vaccinated for COVID-19. Florida employers now have additional considerations besides following the status of the ... Continue Reading Posted By Cristal Law Group 16-Jun-2020 New Attorney Joins Firm News & Announcements New Attorney Joins Firm Posted on June 16, 2020 by Cristal Law Group Cristal Law Group is pleased to announce that Starlene D. McGory, Esq. (“Star”) has recently joined the firm. Starlene brings over 20 years of ... Continue Reading Posted By Deirdre Aretini 17-Apr-2018 Worker's Compensation Case Law Update: Limits on the Remedial Medical Treatment Exception to the Statute of Limitations Defense In Ring Power Corp. v. Murphy, No. 1D17-1316 (Fla. 1 st DCA Feb. 23, 2018) [1] , Florida’s First District Court of Appeals held that an implanted medical device that serves a temporary purpose does not toll the two (2) year statute of ... Continue Reading Posted By Crystal Corry 29-Mar-2018 Judging Misconduct In The Workplace- Recent JCC Decisions Regarding An Interpretation Of The Misconduct Defense Under 440.15(4)(E), Which Precludes An Injured Worker's Entitlement To Temporary Partial Disability Benefits I. Relevant Statutes: Misconduct Defense- “The Law” Sexual harassment, bullying, and incidents of violence- all too prevalent headlines stream across the screens of our daily lives time and again. As such, it may be no surprise that these ... Continue Reading Posted By Charlotte Kelly 20-Feb-2018 Retaliation Claims After an employee experiences an on-the-job injury, employers must also address the daunting reality of potentially dealing with an associated retaliation claim. Workers' Compensation retaliation claims are totally separate from the ... Continue Reading Posted By Starlene McGory 22-Jan-2018 Adjuster Depositions - Do's and Don'ts As an adjuster in a workers’ compensation matter, giving a deposition to claimant’s counsel is usually the last thing an adjuster looks forward to doing or has time to do. The day to day rigors of claims adjusting are enough, i.e. making ... Continue Reading Posted By Crystal Corry 9-Jan-2018 Updated Case Law And Recent Jcc Decisions Re The Injured Worker's Right To A One Time Change Of Physician As Per 440.13 (2)(F) “When you play the game of thrones, you win or die. There is no middle ground”- Cersei Lannister - Season 1, Episode 7 Cersei Lannister, queen of the seven kingdoms and member of the wealthiest and most powerful family in Westeros, gives ... Continue Reading Posted By Deirdre Aretini 4-Jan-2018 Employer Reminder: Don't Use Settlement Agreements to Stop Employees from Filing EEOC Complaints Amid the deluge of sexual harassment allegations involving a broad spectrum of high-profile men, the Equal Employment Opportunity Chairperson (EEOC) Chai Feldblum wants to remind employers of the limits on employment settlement agreements. Feldbaum ... Continue Reading Posted By Paulette Brown 28-Dec-2017 Timely Reporting of An Injury Was the accident reported timely? The question would appear to be quite simple, but in most cases, if you are questioning whether the accident was reported timely then the facts of that case may not be that simple. According to Section 440.185, ... Continue Reading Posted By Marko Crespo 20-Dec-2017 Misconduct in the Workplace and Suspending Temporary Partial Disability Payments Misconduct is defined in Section 440.02(18) as the following: (a) Conduct evincing such willful or wanton disregard of an employer’s interests as is found in deliberate violation or disregard of standards of behavior which the employer has ... Continue Reading Posted By Starlene McGory 15-Nov-2017 Recoupment of Overpayments of Indemnity Benefits in Workers' Compensation In workers’ compensation cases, an employee/injured worker may be entitled to temporary indemnity benefits from the workers’ compensation carrier following an industrial accident. If such benefits are paid, overpayments of such benefits ... Continue Reading Posted By Marko Crespo 5-Oct-2017 Benefits for Mental or Nervous Injury The First District Court of Appeals recently rendered a decision that is consistent with prior rulings regarding the payment of benefits for a mental or nervous injury stemming form a compensable physical accident in Utopia Home Care/Guarantee ... Continue Reading Posted By Starlene McGory 14-Sep-2017 Statute of Limitations: Practical Application What happens when an injured worker comes back more than two years after a compensable worker’s compensation accident and requests medical care or other worker’s compensation benefit? Should you authorize or deny the request or claim? ... Continue Reading Posted By Crystal Corry 21-Aug-2017 Feeding Frenzy: What You Should Know About Attorney's Fees Q- Why don’t sharks eat lawyers? A- Professional Courtesy. Yes, a bad lawyer joke folks. Love or hate them – they are here to stay as part of our “culture”. Lawyers, sharks….. as summer time comes to close with a solar ... Continue Reading Posted By Deirdre F. Aretini 14-Aug-2017 Don't Get Tripped up by Travel Time Pay Don’t Get Tripped up by Travel Time Pay Travel pay and compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for non-exempt hourly employees is a confusing subject for most employers and for good reason. While most questions require a ... Continue Reading Posted By Marko Crespo 24-Jul-2017 One-Time Changes While there are many time-sensitive related matters in workers’ compensation, one of the most important issues is the request for a one-time change of physician. Under Section 440.13(2)(f) of the Florida Statutes, “Upon the written ... Continue Reading Posted By Paulette Brown 12-Jul-2017 Helpful Tips To Avoid A Stop-Work Order Being Issued On Your Company Construction Industry - One (1) or more employees, including the owner of the business who are corporate officers or Limited Liability Company (LLC), there needs to be valid exemptions* for all at that company filed with the State of Florida or valid ... Continue Reading Posted By Starlene McGory 29-Jun-2017 Permanent Total Disability 101 When a worker is injured on the job in the state of Florida, Florida Statute Chapter 440 outlines the benefits an injured worker may be entitled to, which includes various medical and indemnity benefits. On the indemnity side, these benefits ... Continue Reading Posted By Crystal Corry 13-Jun-2017 WAIVER OF MEDICAL NECESSITY - SUMMARY OF RELEVANT STATUTES WAIVER OF MEDICAL NECESSITY - SUMMARY OF RELEVANT STATUTES Sometimes the best thing said is nothing at all - an expression that can often provide valuable advice, but not when it comes to the statutory provision of 440.13(3) (d) and (i), Fla. Stat. ... Continue Reading Posted By Deirdre Aretini 22-May-2017 5 Facts about Workers' Comp Reform, Castellanos, and Westphal 5 Facts about Workers’ Comp Reform, Castellanos, and Westphal Confused about what the recent Florida Supreme Court decisions in Castellanos v. Next Door Company, Westphal v. City of St. Petersburg, and the Florida legislature’s failure to ... Continue Reading Posted By Marko Crespo 8-May-2017 Basics of the Average Weekly Wage In a post Castellanos world, locking down the average weekly wage at an early stage is as important as ever. Claimant’s attorneys now have more of a reason to follow up on issues such as a mere adjustment of the average weekly wage. Although ... Continue Reading Posted By Ben Cristal 3-May-2017 CASE LAW ALERT: AT&T Communications and Sedgwick CMS v. Victoria Murray Rosso CASE LAW ALERT: AT&T Communications and Sedgwick CMS v. Victoria Murray Rosso The 1st DCA just issued an opinion in which the Court upheld an award for lawn care services to a claimant as “competent, substantial evidence (CSE) supports the ... Continue Reading Posted By Ben Cristal 8-Dec-2016 Impact on Florida Workers' Compensation Claims from Legalizing Marijuana For those of you that feel that the Florida State Constitution does not have enough amendments, you can add the legalization of “Medical” Marijuana to list. The legal language of Amendment 2 was written to explicitly allow medical ... Continue Reading Posted By Ben Cristal 18-Nov-2016 The Fourth DCA Attempts To Eliminate The Century Old Agreement Between Labor And Industry In 1911, following the Triangle Waist Company Fire, the country began to debate “The Great Trade-off” between labor and industry began which led to the creation of the modern concept of workers’ compensation in Florida. In order for ... Continue Reading Posted By Ben Cristal 16-Nov-2016 FL Workers' Comp Bulletin: Florida's First DCA Piles On Where The Supreme Court Left Off You may recall the recent ruling contained in the Supreme Court decision in Westphal v. City of St. Petersburg, 194 So.3d 311 (Fla. 2016). This was the case that found the 104 week limitation on Temporary Total Disability benefits to be ... Continue Reading Posted By Ben H. Cristal 16-Aug-2016 Risk Management Safety Tip: Unsafe Employees Part II ALCOHOL AND DRUG USE AT WORK It is well understood that an employee who gets injured at work as a result of his drug or alcohol use, that employee forfeits any benefits to which he might be entitled under the workers’ compensation law. The ... Continue Reading Posted By Ben H. Cristal 16-Aug-2016 Risk Management Safety Tip: Unsafe Employees Part I Tips for Protecting your Business from Unsafe Employees: Refusal to use Safety Equipment and Follow Safety Rule Unsafe employees can cost your business money in increased Workers’ Compensation Premiums, broken equipment, lawsuits from third ... Continue Reading Posted By Ben H. Cristal 29-Jul-2016 FLORIDA WORKERS' COMPENSATION ADJUSTER BEST PRACTICE: Denying Experimental Drugs and Procedures without Waiving the “Medically Necessary” Defense DETERMINING EXPERIMENTAL DRUGS AND PROCEDURES: More and more I am seeing recommendations by authorized treating physicians for treatment modalities not generally accepted in the medical community or for therapies not regularly used to treat a ... Continue Reading Posted By Ben H. Cristal 28-Jul-2016 Risks of Employees Leaving Premises During Paid Break There is a line of Florida Workers’ Compensation cases dealing with the “Personal Comfort” doctrine. Included in the Personal Comfort doctrine are activities such as getting a drink of water, seeking a breath of fresh air, eating, ... Continue Reading
