The State of Florida has as a core belief that injured workers must have some form of relief if they are injured or become ill as the result of their workplace environment. In keeping with this objective, a Florida business needs to purchase a workers’ compensation insurance policy as follows. If:
- The business is in an industry other than construction and it has four (4) or more employees, full-time or part-time (Corporate officers that have correctly filed exemptions with the state do not count as employees).
- The business is in the construction industry and has one (1) or more employees (Corporate officers that have correctly filed exemptions with the state or a member of a limited liability company do not count as employees).
- You are a farmer and have more than five (5) regular employees and/or twelve (12) or more other workers for seasonal agricultural labor lasting thirty (30) days or more.
If a Florida business cannot show proof of Workers’ Compensation insurance coverage, the State will seek civil enforcement. Specifically, the Florida business will be subject to a penalty equal to two times the amount the business should have paid within the preceding two year period.
If an employer commits one of the following infractions, a Stop-Work-Order (SW0) will be issued:
- The employer understates payroll in an attempt to reduce the Workers’ Compensation insurance premium;
- An employer misrepresents the employee’s duties in an effort to reduce the workers’ compensation insurance classification;
- An employer otherwise attempts to avoid paying Workers’ Compensation insurance premiums.
We are finding that many small businesses in Florida are facing fines and penalties as described above because Florida state investigators are “popping in” to their offices unannounced and discovering that they don’t carry Workers’ Compensation insurance.
Call our offices at 1-800-272-6055 for more information on our Workers’ Compensation dividend program for healthcare providers, which provides a 30% dividend if no losses and guarantees a 10% dividend even with losses.