Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier granted approval to the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) for a statewide overall workers’ compensation insurance rate decrease of 8.4 percent for policies effective in Florida as of January 1, 2023.

By lowering the cost for workers’ compensation insurance for employers. There may be substantial encouragement for more businesses to get involved with the construction trades in Florida as demand for those services has exploded in the wake of the massive damage done by hurricane IAN.

“Year after year, Floridians are seeing a decrease in workers’ compensation rates. This is fantastic news as Florida’s small businesses are the backbone of our economy and paying less for workers’ compensation coverage helps business owners combat the impacts of rising inflation,” said Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis. “I’m always proud to support Florida’s small business community as we work to keep Florida the best place to live, work, and run a business.”

“I’m pleased to see the sixth consecutive year of a reduction in workers’ compensation rates,” said Attorney General Ashley Moody. “When businesses are able to succeed, they help create vibrant communities which ultimately allow Florida’s families to thrive.”

“For the sixth consecutive year, Florida businesses will see a reduction in workers’ compensation rates – which also means lower insurance costs for employers,” said Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier. “We look forward to another year of rate relief for Florida businesses.”

Additional information regarding the NCCI public hearing and rate filing is available on OIR’s website.

If your Florida based company is currently with a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), you may want to contact them to understand how your cost may be reduced starting in January 2023. If your Florida based company has a stand-alone Work Comp insurance policy now would be a good time to consider joining a PEO.

Recently there have been a number of law firms advertising that they are seeking to represent workers who have been adversely affected by COVID vaccines which were mandated by their employer. One such firm is Ben Carlisle Law in New York State. In those appeals, they represent that those workers may be entitled to damages from their employers Workers Comp Insurance Carrier. While there has been a wide range of opinion about the negative health impacts of COVID vaccines those impacts may result in significant financial costs for insurance carriers from legal settlements with those litigants.

On a positive note, for the insurance carriers, early in the pandemic most states denied the ability for workers to file work comp claims because they believed they contracted COVID in their workplace. This was done because claiming that someone contracted COVID in the workplace was nearly impossible to prove.

Like any business, insurance companies will likely pass on those increased costs in the form of higher prices for their products. Time will tell how this plays out.

NCCI has an in-depth analysis of the impacts of COVD on workers compensation insurance located here:

https://www.ncci.com/Articles/Documents/Insights-COVID19-Impact-on-WC.pdf

Many small businesses get worker’s compensation insurance coverage by joining a PEO who is the holder of the work comp policy. Work comp claims affect the experience rating of the PEO and more claims create higher insurance costs for the PEO and their small business clients. This is why PEOs are motivated partners to help keep workers’ comp costs in check.

A section in the proposed bill – State Bill 820 states:

“failure by a client company to report a leased employee’s hiring to an employee leasing company may not serve as a basis for the denial of workers’ compensation benefits for an unreported client company employee”

Right there is an invitation for Workers’ Compensation Fraud Opportunities. Here’s a fictional scenario of what could happen:

John owns a company that obtains worker’s compensation coverage through a Florida based Professional Employer Organization (PEO). Last weekend John had a big party at his house. The beer was flowing and everybody was having a grand old time. Everybody was drinking lots of beer and playing corn hole. John’s unemployed brother in law Eddie was dancing, playing air guitar and proving he was the king of the corn hole court. Rather than throwing the bean bag underhanded, Eddie preferred to thrown with a round house side-arm technique. Unfortunately, the next day Eddie could barely lift his arm and it turns out he had torn his shoulder rotator cuff. John knows that Eddie does not have any health insurance coverage.
2021 Florida Senate Bill for Employee Leasing Workers Compensation Coverage

John knows that all he has to do is claim Eddie was an “unreported” employee of his company so he can claim he was injured on the job and is entitled to make a worker’s compensation insurance claim to cover his medical expenses.

Current Florida law prevents this fraud by requiring that only John’s active leased W2 employees receiving payroll through their PEO are covered by worker’s comp insurance.

It’s hard to say who actually wrote this legislation and who is behind the push to make it in to law. If you believe this proposed legislation should be scrapped or amended, contact Senator Perry and let him know.

Concerned parties should contact Senator Keith Perry:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithperry97/

https://www.facebook.com/KeithPerryFL

https://votekeithperry.com/

email: Keith@VoteKeithPerry.com

The November 2017 insolvency of Guarantee Insurance Company (GIC) created $144 million in claims liabilities that impacted the Florida Worker’s Compensation Insurance Guaranty Association (FWCIGA). State laws require that licensed property and casualty insurance companies belong to the guaranty associations in every state where they are licensed to do business. More information about the Florida Workers’ Compensation insurance assessment is available on the FWCIGA FAQ page.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation approved a 1% assessment to be collected by insurance carriers and to increase customer policy premiums to provide additional funds to cover the FWCIGA liabilities associated with the GIC insolvency. The assessment is effective January 1, 2020 and applies to new and renewal policies in the calendar year of 2020.

Florida PEO Clients Affected

In 2020 businesses in Florida who have partnered with a Professional Employer Organization my see a slight increase in their PEO invoiced amount to cover the increased worker’s compensation insurance premium assessment.