From injured workers and employers to insurance carriers and attorneys, the number of entities and competing interests involved in our state’s workers’ compensation insurance system has kept this field in the headlines as a topic of contentious debate. For a fourth consecutive year, Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier issued a final order granting approval of a statewide overall decrease of 7.5% for Florida workers’ compensation insurance rates, as recommended by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI). This premium decrease is set to apply to both new and renewal workers’ compensation insurance policies, beginning on Jan. 1, 2020.

To fully understand the reasoning and effects this statewide decrease will have, we must first look back at the outcomes of two 2016 constitutional rulings that have had a significant impact on Florida’s workers’ compensation market. These include Castellanos v. Next Door, wherein restrictive caps on fees for claimant’s attorneys were struck down, and Bradley Westphal v. City of St. Petersburg, wherein the limit for temporary total disability limits was extended from 104 weeks to 260 weeks.