Tampa Workers’ Compensation Settlements
Not every claim should settle, and not every claim that can settle should settle for what the carrier first offers. A settlement closes out future medical care and future indemnity benefits in exchange for a lump sum. That trade-off only makes sense if the lump sum reflects what those future benefits are actually worth, which is something the carrier has a financial interest in underestimating.
Representative results from our Florida workers’ comp practice:
- $6.5 million: worker who fell from a roof and sustained a head injury
- $2.9 million: paraplegia from an on-the-job injury
- $1.8 million: client suffered a severe workplace fall resulting in paralysis
Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is evaluated on its own facts.
These figures came entirely from workers’ compensation policies, with no third-party contributions. For more on Tampa workers’ compensation settlements, including how lump sums are valued, ask us directly or complete this form and one of our attorneys will contact you directly about what your claim may be worth.
Common Challenges in Tampa Workers’ Compensation Claims
Pre-Existing Conditions
If you injured your back lifting a 60-pound box at work and had a prior back problem from gardening five years ago, expect the carrier to argue your current pain is “just” the old injury. The legal standard, however, is whether the work accident was the major contributing cause of your need for treatment, and an aggravation of a pre-existing condition can absolutely be compensable. The fight is medical, and it’s won with the right doctor, the right records, and the right cross-examination.
Independent Medical Examinations (IMEs)
An IME is a medical exam by a doctor selected and paid for by the insurance carrier. The doctors who do this work for a living, and several of them are well-known to our workers’ comp attorneys in Tampa, are not in the business of writing reports that help injured workers.
You generally can’t refuse an IME. But you can prepare for one, you can have your treating physician’s records on the record first, and you can request your own IME under § 440.13(5). When the carrier’s IME report comes back painting a misleading picture, that’s not the end of the case, but rather the beginning of the dispute.
Choice of Doctor, and Why It Matters
Under § 440.13, the employer or carrier (not you) picks your authorized treating physician. If you go to your own doctor without authorization, you may have to pay out of pocket and the records may not even count toward your claim.
You do have one statutory right to a one-time change of physician. Used at the right moment, that single change can shift the entire trajectory of a case. Used at the wrong moment, it’s wasted.
Employer Retaliation
Florida law (§ 440.205) prohibits employers from firing, demoting, or otherwise punishing you for filing a workers’ comp claim. That doesn’t stop it from happening, particularly with hourly workers in industries with high turnover. When it does, retaliation gives rise to a separate civil claim, on top of the workers’ comp case. It may also increase the value of your workers’ compensation claim.
My Tampa Workers’ Comp Claim Was Denied. Now What?
A denial letter is not a verdict; it’s simply the carrier’s opening position.
The most common reasons we see for denials in Hillsborough County:
- Late notice: the worker didn’t report the injury within the 30-day window required by § 440.185 (though there are exceptions worth fighting for).
- Compensability dispute: the carrier claims the injury didn’t happen at work, or didn’t happen the way the worker described.
- IME or peer-review opinion: a carrier-paid doctor wrote that the injury was minor, healed, or pre-existing.
- Major contributing cause: the carrier argues something other than the work accident is the real reason for treatment.
- Missed exam or appointment: the worker didn’t attend a scheduled exam, sometimes for legitimate reasons that can be raised on rehearing.
The path forward starts with a Petition for Benefits, moves through state-mandated mediation (typically within 130 days), and, if the case doesn’t resolve, goes to a final hearing in front of a JCC.
What If a Third Party Caused Your Work Injury?
Some on-the-job injuries involve someone other than your employer: a negligent driver who hit you while you were making deliveries, a defective piece of equipment, a contractor on a multi-employer job site whose mistake caused your fall.
In those cases, you may have both a workers’ comp claim and a separate third-party personal injury claim. The workers’ comp claim covers your medical bills and lost wages on a no-fault basis; the third-party claim can cover pain and suffering and other damages workers’ comp doesn’t pay.
Because Berlin Law Firm focuses only on workers’ comp, we don’t handle the personal injury side ourselves. When a third-party claim is viable, we will refer you to a personal injury counsel and coordinate the two cases so neither lien fight nor settlement timing damages your recovery.
How Long Do I Have to Report a Workplace Injury in Tampa?
Under Florida Statute § 440.185, you have 30 days from the date of your injury (or from the date you reasonably should have realized your condition was work-related) to report it to your employer. Late reporting doesn’t automatically negate a claim, but it hands the carrier a defense, and exceptions (medical-opinion delay, employer’s failure to post required notices, exceptional circumstances) are fact-specific and can be fought for.
Separately, under § 440.19, you have two years from the date of accident (or one year from your last authorized medical or indemnity payment) to file a Petition for Benefits. Miss either deadline and the case may be unrecoverable, no matter how serious the injury.
If you’re inside the 30-day window, report the injury to your employer in writing as soon as possible. If you’re outside it and worried, call us anyway. We’ll tell you honestly whether you have a case.
Tampa Workers’ Compensation Benefits
By law, any employer in Florida with more than four employees must carry workers’ compensation insurance.
Construction industry employers must carry workers’ comp even if there is just one employee.
Agricultural employers with at least six regular employees must carry workers’ comp. If there are 12 seasonal workers working more than 30 days during a season or more than 45 days in a calendar year, they are also covered by workers’ comp.
Note that if you are an independent contractor rather than an employee, you are not covered by workers’ comp insurance.
Florida workers’ compensation medical benefits include payment for:
- Doctors’ appointments
- Hospitalization
- Diagnostic tests
- Prescription medications
- Physical therapy
- Prostheses
- Transportation to and from healthcare providers and pharmacies
Temporary total disability benefits
If your doctor determines you cannot work due to your work-related injury, you may receive Temporary Total Disability (TTD) benefits. Your wages are replaced at the rate of 66.66 percent of your average weekly wage, up to the state maximum. You do not receive benefits until the eighth day of your disability unless you are disabled for more than 21 days. You may receive these benefits for up to 104 weeks or two years.
If you suffer certain severe injuries, you may receive up to 80 percent of the average weekly wage, subject to the state maximum, for up to six months.
Temporary partial disability benefits
When your doctor decides you can return to work on a restricted basis, you may become eligible for Temporary Partial Disability (TPD) benefits. Eligibility criteria include the inability to earn 80 percent of the wages you received prior to your injury. You may receive these benefits for up to 104 weeks. Note that you must pay taxes on wages earned while you are under a doctor’s care and are on light or limited duty.
Maximum medical improvement
When you reach Maximum Medical Improvement as determined by your doctor, your condition is not expected to improve significantly. At this point, you may receive an evaluation for potential permanent work restrictions, along with an impairment rating. If your impairment rating is above zero, you receive money based on that rating level.
Permanent total disability benefits
Only those workers who have reached Maximum Medical Improvement and are still too severely disabled to work may receive permanent total disability benefits. You must demonstrate that you cannot engage in any type of employment within a 50-mile radius of your home.
Vocational rehabilitation benefits
Your workers’ compensation plan may provide for up to two years of vocational rehabilitation benefits. Only workers whose injuries preclude them from ever working in their previous capacity qualify for these benefits.
In general, if your disability is considered permanent and you cannot earn more than 80 percent of your average weekly wages after your doctor determines you have reached Maximum Medical Improvement, you may qualify for vocational rehabilitation.
If eligible, you have one year from the date of your final benefits check to apply for vocational retraining by submitting a “Request for Screening” application to the Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation. If approved, you will receive an additional 26 weeks of benefits at your previous rate, along with your vocational benefits.
Vocational rehabilitation benefits may include:
- Education and training
- On-the-job training
- Career counseling
- Job placement
Death benefits
Surviving family members of workers who succumb to their injury within one year of the accident or following continuous disability from the accident for five years may receive death benefits. These benefits include:
- Funeral expenses of up to $7,500
- Educational benefits to the surviving spouse
- Spouse without children: 50 percent of the average weekly wage
- Spouse with children: 50 percent of the average weekly wage for the spouse, and 16.66 percent of the average weekly wage for the child or children.
The total of all benefits cannot exceed $150,000.
Talk to a Tampa Workers’ Compensation Lawyer. Free, No Obligation.
There is no fee to consult with our Tampa workers’ compensation attorneys, and under Florida law, there’s no fee to hire us unless we recover benefits for you. The law itself caps and structures attorney’s fees in workers’ comp cases, so the cost question is rarely the right reason to wait.
The wrong reason to wait is hoping the carrier will do the right thing on its own.
Call us. We’ll tell you what your case is worth, what the carrier is likely to argue, and what we’d do next.
