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If you’re a first responder, the standard to receive the Line-of-Duty pension depends on the system you work in: The Florida Retirement System (FRS) or the Municipality System. However, whether you work in the FRS or the Municipality System, you must be at Maximum Medical Improvement (MII).
Read MoreFirefighters, police officers, corrections personnel, paramedics, EMTs, and other state workers on the front lines are protected by individual workers' comp regulations and rules, according to the state of Florida statute 112.1815.
Read MoreFirefighters, paramedics, police officers, and other first responders are generally at high risk for on-the-job injuries. However, if you sustain an injury at work, Florida workers’ compensation law, entitles you to receive certain indemnity benefits as a replacement of your lost income while you recover. Workers' compensation differs from disability insurance in that the former only applies to work-related injuries.
Read MoreChapter 112 of the Florida Workers’ Compensation Act offers special statutory protection to first responders, including police officers, health workers, firefighters, correctional officers, paramedics, and emergency medical technicians. This chapter makes it easier for first responders to prove that diseases such as a COVID-19 infection are a work-related medical condition.
Read MoreWith respect to the Heart/Lung Bill, the question of whether or not to cash an impairment check is of vital importance for first responders.
What Are Impairment Benefits?
Read MoreNo, you are not required to pay taxes on your workers’ compensation benefits. In the state of Florida, workers’ comp benefits, both temporary and total, and any settlement that you receive from workers’ compensation are not taxable. They are already reduced by the insurance company and paid at a reduced rate. You do not need to declare them as taxable income at the end of the year. However, according to the MyFloridaCFO.com website, “if you go back to work on light or limited duty and are still under the care of the authorized doctor, you will pay taxes on any wages earned while working. For additional information on Income Tax, you may want to visit the Internal Revenue Service website at irs.gov”.
Read MoreIf you have suffered what you believe to be a workers’ compensation injury, we advise you to hire an attorney right away, rather than file a claim on your own. Why? While many benefits are available to you under Florida Law the insurance company will not reveal or provide them to you unless your attorney makes a specific request. To ensure that you receive everything to which you are entitled, it is in your best interest to contact an attorney right away.
Read MoreAbsolutely.
In Florida, there are two types of care provided through workers’ compensation: remedial and palliative. The medical dictionary defines remedial care as “curative, or acting as a remedy.” Or, to put it another way, remedial care means that your medical team is making you better. Once you reach a point of medical improvement where your doctor concludes that you’re not going to make any more progress, you are at a plateau, which is referred to as maximum medical improvement (MMI).
Read MoreIf you’re a first responder, the answer to this question affects not just you and your quality of life but the lives of everyone around you. First, let’s start with the clinical definition of PTSD. The American Psychiatric Association defines PTSD as “a psychiatric disorder that can occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, such as a natural disaster, a serious accident, a terrorist act, war/combat, rape or other violent personal assault.”
Read MoreRecently, I had the pleasure of representing a first responder who has dedicated almost his entire life to fire service at a trial on two of his workers compensation claims. While the issues in litigation for both claims were not novel or complicated, the Employer/Carrier fought tooth and nail to keep these workers comp benefits out of my client’s hands. The benefits we sought are very common and most injured workers don’t realize that they are entitled to them under Florida law.
Read MoreFormally known as Florida Statute 112.18, the Florida legislature passed the Heart/Lung Bill to offer additional legal protection for police, firefighters, and correctional officers who suffer from heart disease, high blood pressure, or tuberculosis. Specifically, the bill enacted the presumption that if a law enforcement officer, firefighter-
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