Florida Workers’ Compensation Laws Challenged

Can Florida change a law that allowed employees to trade their right to sue their employers for negligence in exchange for the certainty of compensation for all work-related injuries making it one that forces workers to give up the right to sue and which no longer guarantees full compensation for workplace injuries? Daniel Stahl is hoping that the Florida Supreme Court says not. His former employer, Hialeah Hospital and the third-party administrator of its workers’ compensation fund are hoping that the Florida Supreme Court says nothing.

Workers’ compensation laws are supposed to ensure that workers injured on the job receive compensation for their injuries if they give up their right to sue employers in civil court. This trade off is largely what makes workers’ compensation laws constitutional. In Florida, however, workers’ compensation laws no longer allow workers to exercise their right to sue employers for damages and no longer guarantee compensation for the full duration of long-term but temporary injuries or for a permanent injuries resulting in partial disability.

More than twelve years ago, Stahl was injured while lifting a patient at Hialeah Hospital, sustaining permanent injury that limits his ability to lift heavy weights. He was forced to take a teaching job which paid less than his nursing job had. Unfortunately for Stahl, the legislature had, just weeks earlier, decided that workers’ compensation benefits would no longer compensate workers who sustain permanent injuries that are not totally disabling.

Stahl’s workers’ comp attorney is hoping to argue to the Supreme Court that changes to Florida’s workers’ compensation laws, which result in the laws no longer permitting an employee to opt out or guaranteeing all workers compensation for work-related injuries, are unconstitutional under Florida’s Constitution and the US Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment. A number of Florida workers’ advocacy groups are joining in his request, while the hospital and its third-party administrator are asking the Court not to address Stahl’s constitutional claim for procedural reasons.

Evan Ostfield, a workers’ compensation attorney in Coral Springs knows the importance of having a workers’ comp lawyer at your side from the beginning of your case. Evan is experienced in handling workers’ compensation claims and recognizing the legal issues in your case. Evan works hard to preserve all your rights and to ensure that you get the compensation you deserve following a workplace injury.

If you or someone you know in Florida has been injured at work, contact the Law Offices of Evan M. Ostfield, P.A., in Coral Springs at (954) 227-7529; Toll Free at (866) I SUE YOU/(866) 478-3968 or by email: evan@attorney4life.com.