Our firm is one of the most experienced workers' compenation law firms in South Florida, with a history of practicing in Palm Beach County, with a history of more than 28 years. The firm has earned the highest "rating" ("AV") from Martindale-Hubbell.

Below is a brief summary of your benefits.  Please call us for a free consultation with one of our lawyers.

Your benefit eligibility will be controlled by the law in effect at the time of your injury. There were major substantive changes to the law in 2003, 1994, 1990 and 1979, so that each time period has different regulations and laws.

In sum, there are two categories of benefits that are available:

1) medical benefits; and

2) compensation (or indemnity) benefits.

A. Medical Benefits. Under Florida law, you are entitled to all reasonable and necessary medical treatment as the nature of the injury and course of recovery require. This covers a very large array of potential medical care to diagnose and treat your condition (including, but not limited to, physician office visits, hospitalizations, assistive devices (such as canes), prescriptions,  testing, surgery, physical therapy, occupational therapy mileage reimbursement for transportation to appointments and the pharmacy, nursing and attendant care and any other medical care that is necessary). However, while your employer and their workers’ compensation carrier are responsible for providing medical care, they are not responsible for paying for medical care that they do not authorize (with of course the exception of emergency care). This means that the insurance company must set up and authorize the physician before you receive the medical care or receive prescriptions, etc. (You cannot get your own medical care and assume that the workers’ compensation carrier will pay for it).

B. Indemnity (compensation or money) Benefits. Under Florida workers’ compensation laws, these benefits are money benefits for disability or impairment that are due to you when you are disabled (either totally or partially disabled) or have a permanent impairment. There are many types depending upon the date of y our injury.

All indemnity (or compensation) benefits are paid based upon your earning capacity before you were injured, called the Average Weekly Wage (AWW). In sum, with some exceptions, the AWW is calculated by taking a 13 average of all gross earnings that you had during the 13 weeks preceding your date of accident. The formula for determining the exact AWW differs depending on your date of accident as mentioned earlier; however, in most cases it will be the gross wages during the 13 week period plus the cost of the employer’s contribution towards group health insurance benefits and housing (if the employer was providing those benefits, but no longer is).

As your authorized workers’ compensation physician treats your injuries he also will determine whether you should be working in your regular capacity, whether you should be restricted as to certain work activities, or whether you should stop working altogether. The following are some of the types of workers’ compensation benefits that you may be entitled to:

1. Temporary Total Disability (TTD). These benefits are paid if your physician tells you to stay out of work and you have not reached the point of Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI). MMI is the date after which further recovery from or lasting improvement to your injury can no longer reasonably be anticipated by the doctor. These benefits are paid by the workers’ compensation insurance company every two weeks at the rate of 2/3 of your AWW.

2. Temporary Partial Disability (TPD). These benefits are paid when your physician has restricted you from employment in some way (for example, limits on your ability to lift or stand, etc.) and you are not able to earn at least 80% of your AWW. For accidents occurring after January 1, 2004, TPD benefits are determined based upon the following formula:

(AWW x .80) minus light duty earnings x .80 = TPD benefit

TPD benefits are also payable up until the date of MMI.

3. Rehabilitation Temporary Total Disability. If you have reached  MMI and your physician has given you permanent work restrictions that prevent you from performing the job that you held at the time of your accident, you may be eligible to be retrained for a different type of work that is not as strenuous as your prior job and within the restrictions. The State of Florida Department of Vocational Rehabilitation evaluates injured workers for retraining. If accepted into a retraining program, the workers’ compensation insurance company is required to pay total disability benefits while you attend retraining courses or training. These Rehabilitation TTD benefits can be payable up to a maximum of one year.

4. Permanent Impairment Benefits. When you reach MMI, your doctor must determine whether you have suffered a permanent impairment under the Florida Uniform Permanent Impairment Guide. If you have, the physician will assign a percentage of impairment to the body as a whole. This percentage will entitle you to impairment benefits for a set number of weeks. For each percentage point up to and including ten percent, you receive 2 weeks; for 11 percent to 15, you receive 3 weeks per percentage point; for 16 to 20, you receive 4 weeks per point, and for 21 percent and higher you receive 6 weeks per percentage point. These benefits are paid based upon ½ of your AWW. However, if you’ve returned back to work and are actually earning equal to or more than your AWW, the impairment benefit is reduced to 25% of your AWW.

5. Permanent and Total Disability (PTD). If you are physically incapable of engaging in at least sedentary employment within a 50-mile radius of your residence, you may be entitled to PTD benefits (for accidents occurring after 10/1/03). While permanent and total disability exists, benefits are paid until the age of 75. There is also a 3% supplemental benefit (cost of living increase) which is payable until the age of 62.

Timothy C. Nies, Esq.
Grossman Attorneys at Law
1098 NW Boca Raton Bouevard
Boca Raton, FL 33432
Toll-free:  1-877-733-5878
Local:  561-208-5585
Fax:  561-391-1193
E-mail: timnies@ymail.com

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Our work comp lawyers are experienced in litigating workers compensation, longshore and defense base act claims throughout Palm Beach County and Florida.  From our office in Boca Raton and Clewiston, we help injured workers, or family of workers killed on the job in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Wellington and West Palm Beach, FL.   Our attorneys help workers injured on construction sites throughout South Florida, including North Palm Beach, Clewiston, LaBelle, Delray Beach, and West Palm Beach.  Our workmans compensation law firm will meet with employees injured on the job in  Boynton Beach, Lantana, Loxahatchee, North Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Palm Beach Gardens, Riviera Beach. Our firm regularly helps construction workers in workers compensation claims, including masonaries, road construction crews, ship builders, electricians, plumbers, heavy equipment operators, forklift operators, cement workers, engineers, architects, painters, landscapers, and more. Our attorneys also help seamen in Jones Act Claims, Longshoremen in LHWCA claims and victims of boat accidents in Florida.  Our personal injury attorneys and workers compensation attorneys help workers compensation and personal injury clients in Stuart, FL.

In addition, we help victims throughout Palm Beach County, as well as Fort Lauderdale, Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Cypress Creek,  Stuart, Port St. Lucie, Fort Pierce, Clewiston, Melbourne, Cape Canaveral,  and other areas of Florida. Our work comp lawyers represent injured workers before workers compensation judges in West Palm Beach, Pompano Beach, Delray Beach and Boca Raton, FL and have been helping those seriously hurt on the job for 28 years.  Our workers compensation attorneys also help maritime workers injured on ships  and Longshoremen working on loading docks and U.S. contractors workingin Iraq or Afghanistan (www.defensebaseactlawfirm.com).  In addition, our firm represents injured cruise ship passengers.  Our workers compensation and pesonal injury law firm represents injured workers and others in Boca Raton, Boynton Beach.  Our workers compensation law firm assists injured workers and Longshore workers who live in Fort Lauderdale, Sunrise, Pembroke PInes, Stuart, Port St. Lucie,  Broward County, West Palm Beach and Jacksonville.  If you do not think your employer is providing you with the correct average weekly wage or is not providing you with the medical care you need, call our attorneys today for help.