Before 1979, workers in Florida had to prove that their disability would probably be permanent in order to get vocational rehabilitation benefits. These benefits included temporary total disability payments and assistance with training and education expenses. After 1979, the law has changed many times, and court cases have helped interpret these changes. If an employee gets hurt on the job and can’t earn the same amount of money as before, they have the right to get help finding a new job. The employer or insurance company has to help the employee get training or education for a job that pays well and is suitable for them. If the employer or insurance company doesn’t offer this help, the state can make them do it. The injured employee can also get medical treatment to help them get back to work, for up to 26 weeks, with the option to extend for another 26 weeks if needed. F.S. §440.49 (1979). The Division of Workers’ Compensation sets the requirements and standards for rehabilitation service providers to ensure they are qualified to help injured workers. These providers must be listed in a directory in order to offer their services. The law also outlines the process for awarding rehabilitation benefits to injured workers, including the requirement for both parties to have a chance to be heard before the benefits are awarded. In the past, injured employees had to be evaluated by the Division of Workers’ Compensation before they could get help with rehabilitation. Some early cases said that if an injured worker didn’t apply for this evaluation, they couldn’t get rehabilitation services. In Hurricane Fence Industries v. Bozeman, the court ruled that the employer couldn’t refuse the claimant’s requests for rehabilitation and then use that refusal as a defense to the claimant’s rehabilitation claim. In Walker v. New Fern Restorium, it was explained that rehabilitation should be provided by the employer or carrier when the injured employee can no longer earn pre-injury wages. If they refuse, the Division of Workers’ Compensation must be notified and will evaluate the need for rehabilitation. After a report is prepared, the deputy commissioner may order the employer/carrier to provide the necessary rehabilitation. In Viking Sprinkler Co. v Thomas, the employer disputed the worker’s right to choose their own rehabilitation program. The court said the employer’s choice could make rehab just a pretend solution. In Cardwell v. Leon Kelley’s Nursery, the court denied the worker’s request to change rehab providers because the original one had a good job for them. In Bammac, Inc. v. Grady and Munford, Inc. v. Necrason, the court said it’s not okay for lawyers to send clients to their own rehab companies. Instead, if the worker and employer can’t agree, a judge will decide on the rehab provider. In these court cases, injured employees argued that their employers didn’t do enough to help them return to work after they got hurt. The courts said that just finding a new job for the employee isn’t enough. Employers need to provide things like testing to figure out what kind of help the employee needs, and temporary disability benefits while they’re getting that help. One case also talked about who should pay for a government grant that helped the employee get training. In these two cases, the court had to decide if injured workers were entitled to special training and education to get a new job after their injury. In the first case, the court said a company could oversee a worker’s rehab, but not their medical care. In the second case, the court said a computer training program was not necessary for the injured worker to return to their old job. The Workers’ Compensation Administration Trust Fund can be used to help injured employees get the training and education they need to get back to work. If the employer or insurance company offers vocational rehabilitation services, they need to report it to the division for review. The services can include medical care and vocational training to help the injured employee find a new job. Any rehabilitation plan for the injured employee needs to be approved by the employer or insurance company before it can be put into action. When injured workers ask for vocational rehabilitation evaluation, the judge can only award what was asked for. If the rehabilitation counselor tells you to go back to school or do something else, make sure it’s authorized and follow the right procedures. If you can go back to work without rehabilitation, you might not get reimbursed for transportation or other rehab expenses. And if the employer already helped you with courses to improve your skills, they can get credit for that if you later need more rehabilitation. In the first case, the court ruled that a claimant who was still in a rehabilitation program could receive wage loss benefits, even without performing a job search, because their doctor said they couldn’t work full-time due to a heart condition. The court also said that the employer failed to prove that the claimant could earn wages, so the deemed earnings provision didn’t apply.
In the second case, the employer argued that the judge should have checked if the injured employee could be trained for a new job before declaring them permanently disabled. The employer said this was required by a recent law change. The court decided that because of a law change in 1989, the employer is responsible for paying for the injured worker’s rehabilitation. In another case, Hertz Rent-A-Car appealed a decision to pay an injured worker temporary total disability benefits during training. The employer argued that they should be able to settle the benefits instead. The court ruled that when an employee is getting benefits for being unable to work due to an injury, the employer has to provide training and education to help the employee get back to work. The court also said that the employee can’t get a lump sum of money in exchange for giving up the right to these benefits. In this case, the employee won’t be allowed to get more money from the employer because he already agreed to a settlement that included these benefits. If you get hurt at work, your employer may ask you to have a reemployment assessment to see if you need help finding a new job. They should only use a qualified person to do the assessment. If the person thinks you need help, your employer will tell you and you can decide if you want it. If you do, your employer will help you find someone to give you the help you need. If the person in charge of helping an injured employee get back to work decides that the employee needs training or education, or if the employee hasn’t found a suitable job within 180 days or has received $2,500 in help finding a new job, then the help will stop and the employee will be referred for a vocational evaluation. The evaluation will help figure out what kind of training or services the employee needs to find a good job. The employee can get help with rehabilitation for up to 26 weeks, and maybe longer if needed. This rule applies to injuries that happened before 1994, and the employee can’t ask for the evaluation themselves – it’s up to the people in charge to decide. In a court case involving Barnett Bank of Volusia County and Pelle, the court ruled that a certain law allowing the employer to conduct vocational evaluations even after an employee has been declared permanently and totally disabled applies to cases before the law’s effective date. This law is meant to help determine the employee’s status and assist in getting them back to work. It doesn’t create new obligations or rights for the employer or the employee. It also allows the employer to withhold benefits if the employee doesn’t show up for an evaluation, but this rule also applies to old cases. In the case of Ring Power Corp. v. Campbell, the court said that the state division can approve training and education for injured workers. The company tried to argue that they didn’t have to pay the worker while he was training, but the law says they do. The division approved the worker’s training, so the company should have followed the law or challenged the decision through the proper process. A worker was approved for a two-year training program in computer-aided drafting and design. However, he withdrew from most of his courses without a good reason. As a result, the workers’ compensation division stopped sponsoring his training program. The court confirmed that the employer has to pay the worker extra money while he’s getting training, but only for up to 26 weeks. The division’s approval of the training program is official, and the employer has to follow it. In the first case, the court said that the employer couldn’t force the employee to go for a vocational evaluation. Only the workers’ comp division can schedule that. So, the court said the employer was wrong to make the employee go.
In the second case, the court had to decide if the temporary benefits the employee got after reaching maximum medical improvement should be included in the 104 weeks of benefits allowed by law. The court said yes, those temporary benefits count towards the 104 weeks. In Okeechobee Health Care v. Collins and City of Pensacola Firefighters v. Oswald, the court held that a claimant can only receive a maximum of 104 weeks of temporary disability benefits. This was based on specific statutes. However, in this case, the claimant received temporary rehabilitative benefits after reaching maximum medical improvement, as allowed by a different statute. Rafael Gonzalez, a lawyer specializing in workersâ compensation, wrote this explanation. He is very experienced in this area of law.
In simpler terms: Two court cases set a limit on temporary disability benefits, but a different law allowed the claimant in this case to receive more benefits. A lawyer named Rafael Gonzalez, who knows a lot about workersâ compensation, wrote this explanation.
Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/vocational-rehabilitation-in-florida-workers-compensation-cases-a-comprehensive-review-of-statutory-and-case-law/
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