Coverage Requirements
Many employers conducting work in the State of Florida are required to provide workers’ compensation insurance for their employees. Whether your employer is required to carry coverage for work related accidents depends on the type of industry, number of employees and entity organization. To determine if your employer is required to carry workers’ compensation insurance, the following information is provided by the Bureau of Compliance-Division of Workers’ Compensation:
Construction Industry
One (1) or more employees, including the owner of the business who are corporate officers or Limited Liability Company (LLC) members. For a list of the trades considered to be in the construction industry see 69L-6.021 Florida Administrative Code.
Non-Construction Industry
Four (4) or more employees, including business owners who are corporate officers or Limited Liability Company (LLC) members.
Please note: Non-construction industry Sole Proprietors or partners in a Partnership are not employees unless they want to be included on the business’ Workers’ Compensation Insurance policy and file a form DWC 251 with the Division of Workers’ Compensation.
Agricultural Industry
Six (6) regular employees and/or twelve (12) seasonal workers who work more than 30 days during a season but no more than a total of 45 days in a calendar year.
Out of State Employers must notify their insurance carrier that they are working in Florida. If there is no insurance, the out of state employer is required to obtain a Florida Workers’ Compensation Insurance policy with a Florida approved insurance carrier which meets the requirements of Florida Statutes, specifically chapter 440, and the Florida Insurance Code. This means that “Florida” must be specifically listed in Section 3A of the policy (on the Information Page).
An Extraterritorial Reciprocity clause in the home state’s statute allows some out of state Employers to work in Florida temporarily using their home state’s Workers’ Compensation insurance policy.
Contractors are required to make certain that all sub-contractors have the required Workers’ Compensation Insurance before they begin work on a project. To see the documentation that is required from a sub-contractor, see 69L-6.032 Florida Administrative Code.
If the sub-contractor does not have Workers’ Compensation Insurance for its employees, those workers become the employees of the contractor. If an injury occurs, the contractor is responsible for paying the benefits for the work related injury, illness or fatality.
Exemptions are available to business owners who opt out of the insurance coverage protections for themselves and who meet the requirements for an exemption.
I have represented both, employers when they lack insurance or their insurance carrier does not provide an attorney, and employees that have been hurt as a result of a work related activity, such as an automobile crash that occurs while driving from a home office to another location for a job. I have also represented workers’ compensation claimants when they have had personal injury claims and I know the intricacies of working the two distinct type of cases at the same time.
