If a first responder has a permanent impairment rating of at least 20% after having reached maximum medical improvement, the first responder might be entitled to Florida workers compensation supplemental wage loss benefits. These are very valuable money benefits and, depending on your average weekly wage and compensation rate, could be in excess of $100,000. […]

A long term disability carrier will normally provide you with a “legal representative” that they hire. Did you know that the representative might not be an attorney; they might be a part of a nationwide company? The long term disability company is going to entice you to use their representative, with the suggestion that this

The Florida Supreme Court entered a blockbuster decision on October 23, 2008 on the Florida workers’ compensation attorney’s fees provisions of the 2003 Florida workers’ compensation statute in Emma Murray v. Mariner Health, 33 Fla. L. Weekly S845.  Click to read the decision. The decision is important to all Florida first responders! The Florida legislature

Just because you are covered by the Florida Heart and Lung Act, does not mean you get benefits. You have to be disabled! OK, but HOW long do you have to be out to meet the disability standard? In an awful decision in Bivens v. City of Lakeland, 33 Fla.L. Weekly D2342b (October 2, 2008),

In an awful decision, Bivens v. City of Lakeland, 33 Fla. L. Weekly D2342b (October 2, 2008), firefighter Bivens claimed workers’ compensation benefits arguing that his hypertension was a covered condition under the statutory provisions of section 112.18(1). The First District ruled that essential hypertension was not a form of hypertension covered by Section 112.18(1).

The First District Court of Appeal has held in two cases that you must be disabled for the presumption to apply. In Sheaffer v. City of Kissimmee, 942 So2d. 887 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006) and in Miller v. City of Del Ray Beach Police Department, 31 FLW D465 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006) record ruled that

The First District Award of Appeal entered a great decision in Seminole County Sheriffs Office v. Johnson, 901 So2d. 342 (Fla. 1st DCA 2005). This case stands the proposition that the 2002 amendments to 112.18(1) which expanded the class of people entitled to the statutory presumption to include firefighters, law enforcement and correctional officers as

No! In Smith v. City of Miami, 552 So2d. 245 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989), be First District Court of appeal ruled that the First Responder presumptions do not apply to a retired firefighter. The Court reasoned that a retired fireman did not meet the definition of section 112.191 (1)(b) which requires that a “fireman” be

Can you believe that a long term disability carrier could terminate long term disability benefits of a policy holder who had sciatica and six back surgeries? Having had lower back surgery, I know the severe pain that you can have with sciatica and herniated disc. UNUM, as usual, had the claim reviewed by their physician