ADA Amendments Pass in House
The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 which I wrote about two days ago passed the U.S. House of Representatives on 6/25/2008 by a vote of 402-17, with 15 members not voting. The Senate will now take up the legislation.
Legislative Roundup
Sorry for the lack of posting for the last few weeks. I'll try to catch up over the next few days. To begin, let's look at the legislative session which ended on 5/2/2008. What happened? Almost nothing.
SB 2548, the bill which contained a number or changes to the law which I summarized here, was never even taken up by committee.
SB 454 and HB 239, bills which would have affected the employee-leasing industry and which I discussed here, also died.
And SB 2314, a bill which would have made cancer a presumptively compensable for condition for firefighters (see this post), met the same fate.
HB 5045, on the other hand, did pass both chambers. This bill transfers various duties previously assigned to the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) to the Department of Financial Services. It awaits the governor's signature and will be effective on 7/1/2008.
Employee Leasing Company Not Liable for Injuries to Employee of its Client
Crum Services v. Lopez, decided on 3/6/2008, illustrates a situation that arises all too often in the context of employee leasing companies. Crum Services is an employee leasing company (also known as a "professional employer organization" or "PEO") who entered into a contract with P&G Roofing to provide leased employees to P&G. The contract between Crum and P&G provided that Crum would provide workers' compensation coverage to all of P&G's leased employees. In order to be a "leased employee," however, the contract specifically provided that the employee must first complete an employment application, a W-4 withholding form, and a Form I-9, all of which had to be delivered to Crum "before the employee commences employment."
Mr. Del Sol, an employee of P&G, hired Lopez to work for P&G at the rate of $80.00 per day. Lopez did not, however, complete any paperwork for Crum. He was injured on the third day of his employment with P&G, causing him to miss work for about four months. Mr. Del Sol took Lopez to the doctor after the accident and promised to pay him $200.00 per week while he was out of work (about four months), but he never did.
Continue Reading...
Cancer Bill for Firefighters and Paramedics Re-Introduced
As he apparently promised he would (see this post), Senator Jeff Atwater, a Republican representing parts of Palm Beach and Broward Counties, has re-introduced a bill identical to last year's bills (see SB 1440 and HB 301 from the 2007 legislative session) which would provide cancer coverage for firefighters and paramedics. See SB 2314.
Specifically, as §112.18(1) currently does for coronary problems and §112.181 does for hepatitis, SB 2314 would create a rebuttable presumption that "any condition or impairment of the health of a firefighter or paramedic". . . which is caused by cancer and results in total or partial disability or death is presumed to have been accidental and suffered in the line of duty unless the contrary is shown by competent evidence." In order to take advantage of the presumption, the firefighter or paramedic must have passed a physical examination before commencing employment which failed to reveal any evidence of such condition.
Proposed Legislation Would Affect Employee Leasing Companies
Though Florida's annual legislative session is set to begin on March 4, so far only two bills have been filed which would meaningfully affect the area of workers' compensation. Those identical bills, SB 454 and HB 239, concern employee leasing companies. Under these proposed bills:
Continue Reading...(1) the contract between the leasing company and the client company must provide that the leasing company will give notice to all leased employees as to whether their workers’ compensation coverage is being provided by the leasing company or by the client company;
(2) when the leasing company terminates its contractual relationship with the client company, the leasing company must give written notice of that fact, including the date of contract termination, to each leased employee at the employee's last known address;
