Tampa Workers Compensation Lawyer

Workers' Compensation & Job Accidents

Every year thousands of people suffer job related accidents.

What exactly is Workers’ Compensation?
Florida created the Workers’ Compensation Act in order to relieve an injured employee from having to sue their employer to collect any sort of damages. Workers’ compensation is an insurance coverage that provides the injured employee an opportunity to collect benefits regardless of fault as long as the injuries arose "out of and in the course of employment". Basically, this means that the injury has to occur while the employee is involved in some activity directly related to the job.

What should you do if you are injured at work?
In order to preserve the workers’ compensation claim the injured employee should notify their employer within 30 days of the date of injury, the date when the injury's effects first became apparent, or the date when a medical expert first discovers the injury.

What benefits are covered under Workers Compensation?
An injured employee is entitled to receive medical treatment and lost wages.

Medical benefits begin immediately.

Lost wages is based on a rate of 66 2/3% from the weekly average salary, a limited rate established by the state, or 80% if the injuries are serious to the point where the injured employee can no longer continue working in the same position they held before the injury (i.e. injured employee lost an arm, a leg, a hand or their vision). In order to collect temporary disability it is required that the injured employee is not able to work for at least seven (7) days. In this case, benefits are retroactive to the first day. In order to collect payment for the first seven days the injured employee has to be out of work for 21 days.

If the job related accident causes the death of the employee, workers’ compensation insurance will pay the family up to $7,500.00 for burial expenses and $150,000.00 for death benefits to all dependents survivors. However, if the injury is not fatal, the available benefits include payment for medical treatment, income for temporary disability to cover loss wages, as well as permanent disability.

What happens if the employer does not provide the injured employee with Workers’ Compensation benefits?
If the employer or the employer’s insurance company does not provide the injured employee with benefits, they will need to consult with an attorney so that they can file a workers’ compensation claim with the state office. It is important to know that it is illegal for the employer to take action against the injured employee for having filed a claim.

Do illegal workers have any rights to receive this compensation?
In Florida, legal and illegal workers have the right to receive workers’ compensation benefits. In fact, illegal workers have the right to the majority of the labor protections. For example, some employers do not pay them because they have a problem with their social security number or other document. It is important to know that keeping salary payments is illegal. Every employee has the right to get paid for the hours worked.

Call us today at (813) 933-1234 or toll free at (877) 935-1234 or email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it