Miami Workers’ Compensation Lawyers

If you were hurt on the job in Miami or anywhere in South Florida, the workers' compensation system is supposed to pay your medical bills and replace part of your lost wages, no matter who caused the accident. In practice, claims get delayed, doctors get switched out, and benefits get cut off long before you are ready to go back to work. The Miami workers' compensation lawyers at Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada have represented injured workers across Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Collier, and Lee Counties since 1976. We get stalled claims moving, challenge denied treatment and benefit cutoffs, and take your case before a judge of compensation claims when the carrier refuses to pay what it owes.

Florida's workers' compensation system is governed by Chapter 440 of the Florida Statutes. The rules are strict, the deadlines are short, and the insurance carrier is not on your side. The sections below explain how the system actually works, what you are entitled to, and where most claims go wrong.

Workers’ compensation in Florida is a no-fault insurance system that pays for medical care and partial wage replacement when you are injured on the job. You do not have to prove your employer did anything wrong. You only have to show that the injury arose out of and in the course of your employment. In exchange for that easier path to benefits, § 440.11 makes workers’ compensation the exclusive remedy against your employer—you cannot sue them in civil court for negligence.

Covered injuries include sudden accidents like falls, machinery injuries, and motor vehicle crashes that happen while you are working. They also include repetitive stress injuries, occupational diseases, and psychiatric injuries that meet specific statutory requirements. If the injury is a heart attack, stroke, or other internal failure, Florida law sets a higher bar—you must show the work was the major contributing cause.

Florida requires most employers with four or more employees to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Construction employers must carry coverage if they have even one employee. If your employer was required to carry insurance and failed to, you may have additional rights against the employer outside the worker’s comp system. If you are unsure whether you were dealing with a workers’ compensation issue or a third-party personal injury claim, the experienced attorneys at Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada can review your accident at no cost.

There are five categories of benefits available to injured workers in Florida: medical care, temporary disability, permanent impairment, permanent total disability, and death benefits. The specifics of each are tied directly to statute.

Medical care is governed by § 440.13. The insurance carrier picks the doctor—but you have the right to one change of treating physician during the course of your claim by submitting a written request under § 440.13(2)(f). The carrier has a short window—generally treated as five days under controlling First DCA case law—to authorize an alternate physician. If the carrier misses that window or fails to diligently secure an appointment with the alternate physician, courts have held the right of selection passes to the injured worker. This is one of the most under-used rights in Florida workers’ comp. Read more about what to do when the carrier denies your medical treatment.

Temporary total disability (TTD) pays 66 2/3 percent of your average weekly wage while you are unable to work at all, under § 440.15(2). Temporary partial disability (TPD) pays a portion of the difference between your pre-injury wage and your post-injury earning capacity when your doctor releases you to light duty. Combined, temporary disability benefits cannot extend beyond 104 weeks from the date you began receiving them.

Impairment income benefits (IIBs) kick in once you reach maximum medical improvement, provided your authorized doctor assigns a permanent impairment rating above zero using the 2020 Florida Uniform Permanent Impairment Rating Schedule. IIBs can be paid at 75 percent of your TTD rate. The number of weeks you receive them depends on your impairment percentage.

Permanent total disability (PTD) is available when a catastrophic injury—including spinal cord injuries with paralysis, amputations, severe brain injury, and other listed conditions—leaves you unable to engage in even sedentary employment within 50 miles of your home.

Death benefits are paid to surviving spouses and dependents when a worker dies from a compensable injury. They include up to $7,500 in funeral expenses and ongoing compensation up to 66 2/3 percent of the worker’s average weekly wage, subject to caps.

For the 2026 calendar year, the maximum weekly benefit for any of these wage replacement categories is $1,358 under § 440.12(2), with the rate adjusted each January 1. Call (877) 448-8585 to talk with one of our attorneys about how these benefit categories apply to your situation. The consultation is free, and we do not charge fees unless we recover compensation for you.

A Florida workers’ compensation claim is a federal-style administrative process—not a court case. Claims are adjudicated by Judges of Compensation Claims (JCCs) appointed by the governor. The Miami JCC office covers Miami-Dade County. The Miami workers’ compensation lawyers at our firm have appeared before the Miami JCC office in every category of dispute described above—denied claims, contested impairment ratings, suspended benefits, and disputed average weekly wage calculations.

The process starts the moment you report your injury to your employer. Under § 440.185, that report must happen within 30 days, and we have seen carriers deny otherwise solid claims solely because the employee missed this deadline. Your employer then has 7 days to notify its carrier. The carrier has 14 days from receipt of the employer’s report to begin paying benefits or to file a notice of denial.

If the carrier denies your claim or stops paying benefits you believe you are owed, you file a Petition for Benefits with the Office of the Judges of Compensation Claims. The petition must be filed within two years of the date of injury under § 440.19, or within one year of the last payment of compensation or authorized medical care—whichever is later. After the petition is filed, the parties go through mandatory mediation, then a pretrial hearing, and finally a merits trial in front of the JCC. There is no jury. The judge issues a written order, which can be appealed to the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee. For a full walkthrough, see our page on the Florida workers’ compensation process.

The most common reasons carriers deny Florida workers’ compensation claims are late notice, missed medical appointments, disputes over whether the injury is work-related, and pre-existing condition defenses. Carriers regularly argue that an injury was not the major contributing cause of the worker’s current symptoms—especially in back, neck, and shoulder claims where degenerative changes show up on imaging.

Carriers also use independent medical examinations (IMEs) strategically. Under § 440.13, both the carrier and the injured worker have a right to one IME per accident. Carriers select IME doctors strategically—and in practice, carrier-selected IMEs frequently produce opinions that support denying or reducing benefits. The injured worker has the same right to obtain an IME from a doctor of their own choosing—a right many workers do not know about and do not exercise.

If you have already been denied, do not assume the denial is final. A properly drafted Petition for Benefits, supported by the right medical evidence, can reverse a denial. The earlier an attorney gets involved, the better positioned you will be.

Most Florida workers’ compensation cases that involve any meaningful permanent impairment eventually settle for a lump sum under § 440.20(11). A settlement closes out the carrier’s obligation to pay future indemnity benefits and, in most cases, future medical care. The dollar value depends on the worker’s age, average weekly wage, impairment rating, work restrictions, future medical needs, and whether Medicare’s interests have to be protected through a Medicare Set-Aside. Settlement decisions should never be made without understanding the long-term medical picture. Our page on Florida workers’ comp lump sum settlements explains how these are valued and negotiated.

Florida law also protects you from being punished for filing a claim. Under § 440.205, your employer cannot discharge, threaten to discharge, intimidate, or coerce you because you filed or attempted to file a workers’ compensation claim. Violations give rise to a separate civil cause of action against the employer, with the potential for lost wages and other damages. See our page on workers’ compensation retaliation for more.

Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada has represented workers in Florida workers’ compensation claims since 1976, and our attorneys have recovered over $220 million in verdicts and settlements—including substantial recoveries in serious workplace injury cases involving roofer falls, electrical injuries, forklift accidents, and steel worker falls—across our personal injury and workers’ compensation practice. (Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.) We handle claims on a contingency basis—there are no fees unless we recover benefits for you, and the initial consultation is free.

We represent workers injured at construction sites along the Palmetto Expressway and Turnpike corridors, at Port of Miami and Miami International Airport, in warehouses across Hialeah and Doral, and at job sites throughout Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Collier, and Lee Counties. To talk with one of our Miami workers’ compensation attorneys, call (305) 448-8585 or contact us online. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and we work with clients in English, Spanish, and Creole.