Florida

Florida Saw Jump in Workers' Comp Cost per Claim in 2022-23, WCRI Report Shows

Published

2 weeks ago

May 6, 2024

Florida Saw Jump in Workers' Comp Cost per Claim in 2022-23, WCRI Report Shows

Call it the effects of wage creep during the pandemic, along with a little bit of creep in the duration of benefits.

Employers and insurers in Florida saw a 7% increase in total cost per workers’ compensation claim in 2022 and 2023, to just over $30,000 on average, due largely to higher wages and longer temporary disability benefits duration. That was the finding of an analysis by the Workers Compensation Research Institute, which compared COVID-19 pandemic-era costs in Florida and 16 other states.

“The large indemnity growth in 2022 was mainly driven by increases in the average preinjury weekly wage of workers with injuries and duration of temporary disability. In particular, wages in Florida grew 9.5 percent in 2022, faster than the increases in prior years,” notes the report, authored by WCRI researcher Rebecca Yang. Other study states saw similar cost increases.

The work echoed other studies that have found that as employers rebounded from the pandemic shutdowns, they were forced to pay higher wages to attract workers. That led to higher payrolls and higher weekly benefits for injured employees.

The trend was highlighted late last year when the Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation raised the 2024 maximum weekly indemnity benefit to reflect the big jump in average weekly wages. The average wage rose from $1,099 in 2021 to $1,260 in 2023 – a 15% increase. That much of an increase had not been since the high-inflation days of 1980, which saw a 20% spike in wages from two years earlier.

Click on the chart for an enlarged image.

The reasons for a half-week increase in temporary disability benefits duration were also related to the economic realities of the pandemic. In many states, including Florida, TD duration increased in 2020, declined or remained stable in 2021, then increased again in 2022. High unemployment early in the COVID era may have kept some injured workers out of a job, leading to longer injury or benefits duration times, the WCRI report said.

Later, as employment rose nationwide, “the tight labor markets and the potential workforce shortages associated with this reality may have led to longer working hours and worse overall health among current employees.”

The study underscored what other analyses have found – that many employers were forced to hire less-experienced workers in 2022, which may have led to higher injury rates in some job classifications. Post-pandemic, employers have seen an increase in comorbidities for workers. Some employees may have had problems accessing medical care due to a shortage of health care professionals, the study said.

“These factors may have led to more severe injuries, prolonged recovery, and slower return to work,” the report noted.

The analysis found that duration of temporary disability in Florida increased in 2022 in most industry groups and across age groups with workers aged 35 and above at the time of injury. The report can be accessed here.

It’s too soon to know if the higher costs will put pressure on workers’ compensation rates in Florida. The state, like most others, has seen a steady drop in comp rates over the last two decades. Late last year, Florida regulators approved a 15% average decrease in rates.

WCRI also found that medical payments per claim have remained stable in recent years, in contrast to a 5% per-year increase in the years from 2017 to 2019. Part of the stability was due to a drop in the utilization of medical services at ambulatory surgery centers and other non-hospital providers, the report noted.

That cost stability could be positively impacted, at least to some degree, by new Florida limits on emergency room costs. Florida Gov. last week signed House Bill 989, which, among other changes, clarifies that emergency care, except those procedures subject to the maximum reimbursement allowance, must be set at 250% of Medicare’s rates, unless governed by a contract.

The “agency bill,” which addresses a wide range of issues identified by the Florida Department of Financial Services, also requires DFS to work with actuarial firms to develop maximum reimbursement allowances for emergency services.

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Florida

Florida mother Destiny Byassee killed when fake airbags ‘detonated like a grenade,’ lawsuit alleges

Published

1 hour ago

May 19, 2024

Press Room

Florida mother Destiny Byassee killed when fake airbags ‘detonated like a grenade,’ lawsuit alleges

A young Florida mother was killed last year when her car’s counterfeit airbag “detonated like a grenade,” according to a lawsuit.

Destiny Byassee’s used 2020 Chevy Malibu passed through multiple conmen before its fake emergency airbags deployed in a June frontal collision, causing a blast that “shot metal and plastic shrapnel throughout” the car, her family alleges.

“Several fragments from the blast struck Ms. Byassee in the face, head, and neck, ultimately killing her,” stated the complaint, obtained by Law & Crime.

The 22-year-old “was a mother of two young children and had her entire life ahead of her,” attorney John Morgan, who is also representing the family, said in a news release.

According to the lawsuit, Byassee bought the doomed sedan from DriveTime, a national used car company, without being given a full history of the car.

The former Enterprise Rent-A-Car car was involved in a devastating September 2022 crash that caused damage that “was so significant that the vehicle should have been classified as a total loss, issued a salvage title, and removed from service,” the lawsuit alleges.

Rather than scrap the vehicle, Enterprise allegedly sold the car to DriveTime through Manheim Auctions, Inc., which bills itself as the largest wholesale automobile auction company in the world.

It was then repaired at Jumbo Automotive in Hollywood, Florida, the complaint continues, claiming that shop owner Haim Levy “purchased counterfeit and non-compliant airbag components” by a Chinese company to replace the Chevrolet factory airbag “and proceeded to install these components into the subject Chevy Malibu.”

Not only were the dangerous fake bags used, but Levy allegedly repaired the deployed seatbelt pretensioner — the part of a complete system that tightens the belt during a crash — incorrectly, but in a cunning way that made it appear to work properly.

Byassee “had no idea that the vehicle had been improperly and illegally repaired,” her family said.

Both the counterfeit airbag and faulty seatbelt pretensioner “were signaled to deploy” during the June 2023 collision, according to the lawsuit.

“However, because the subject Chevy Malibu’s front driver-side seatbelt pretensioner was inoperable, the pretensioner did not deploy as originally designed,” the lawsuit states. “Worse, because the subject Chevy Malibu’s front driver-side airbag system included counterfeit and non-compliant components, the airbag detonated like a grenade and shot metal and plastic shrapnel throughout the vehicle cabin.”

The filing pointedly said that photographs depicted the “horrifying event,” including one of the “shredded and blood-soaked front driver-side airbag.”

Cathy King, Byassee’s grandmother, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the 6- and 4-year-old children the young woman left behind, as well as her husband and mother.

Byassee “believed she was buying a safe and reliable vehicle, but our lawsuit alleges that several automotive companies worked to skirt the system by repairing what should’ve been a totaled vehicle, all just to make money,” Morgan said in the release.

“Because of that, Ms. Byassee lost her life, and her children will grow up without their mother.”

The lawsuit seeks a jury trial on 14 various counts against the various defendants – including strict liability, negligence and deceptive trade practices.

Neither Enterprise, Manheim, DriveTime nor Jumbo Automotive immediately answered The Post’s request for comment.

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Florida

Don Moreland inducted into the Florida Law Enforcement Hall of Fame

Published

8 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Press Room

Don Moreland inducted into the Florida Law Enforcement Hall of Fame

OCALA, Fla. (WCJB) – A former Marion County Sheriff was inducted into the Florida Law Enforcement Hall of Fame today.

Former sheriff Don Moreland got emotional giving his acceptance speech, more than fifty years after he was elected.

He was Marion County Sheriff for twenty years, from 1972 to 1992.

Once he left his post, former President Bill Clinton made him the Marshall for the Middle District of Florida.

“I am deeply honored being included in this whole thing. When you get to be 90 you really sincerely appreciate everything a little bit more,” said Don Moreland.

Moreland still holds the record for the ‘longest-serving sheriff’ in Marion County.

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