FLORIDA’S WC
● Bureau of Monitoring and Audit : Regulates individual self-insurers to ensure financial resources are available to pay employee’s claims; monitors and audits carrier performance, benefit payment accuracy, assess penalties for late reporting benefit payments or medical payments; provides technical assistance to customers through telephone contacts, training, and audit workshops. ● Medical Services Section : Expert Medical Advisor certification and database management; reimbursement dispute resolution; investigate and determine healthcare provider utilization patterns, billing practices, or violations of law or rules that may require penalties. The WC law in Florida can be found in Chapter 440, Florida Statutes and the Workers’ Compensation Rules in Florida’s Administrative Code, under Department of Financial Services, Division 69L. Florida also provides a Workers’ Compensation Guide (Guide) with guidelines and resources to assist workers, employers, healthcare providers, and insurance companies involved in the process of a claim. Employers are required by law to report a worker’s injury to the insurance company within seven days of when the accident or injury was first reported . The Florida statutes, laws, and resources protect all entities involved in the WC system. The goal of the Division of Worker’s Compensation is to ensure that anyone interested or involved in the Florida WC system has the tools and resources needed to participate in the process, while following the rules and laws. The Division is not responsible for adjusting claims and/ or reimbursement; they are a resource to help ensure the appropriate responsibilities are completed by each party.
Each state legislature enacts statutes and laws to regulate the WC process, providing guidelines for employers, workers, health providers, insurance agencies, and other stakeholders involved in WC. In Florida, the entity responsible is the Division of Workers’ Compensation located in Tallahassee. The Division is accountable for the execution of the WC delivery system, educating all stakeholders of their rights and responsibilities, and analyzing data obtained to deliver timely services and benefits. The Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation has a specific mission statement: To actively ensure the self-execution of the workers' compensation system through education and informing all stakeholders of their rights and responsibilities, leveraging data to deliver exceptional value to our customers and stakeholders, and holding parties accountable for meeting their obligations. In order to effectively achieve this mission, the Division created six departments, each with their respective duties and obligations. These are categorized as follows: ● Bureau of Compliance : Investigates employers to determine civil compliance along with other responsibilities. ● Bureau of Employee Assistance and Ombudsman Office : Assists, educates, and informs system participants, investigates disputes and facilitate resolutions; reviews claims if injured workers benefits are denied or stopped; advises workers and provides re-employment services. ● Bureau of Financial Accountability : Accountable for WC assessment rate calculations, assessments collection unit, financial accountability section, among other tasks. Requirements to provide WC coverage In Florida, any employer in an industry, other than construction, and who has four or more employees, full-time or part-time, is required to carry WC coverage . For the construction industry, if the employer has one or more employees, including themselves, they have to carry WC coverage and if the employer is a state or local
government, they are required to carry the coverage, also. Farmers have other requirements. An employee can find out if their employer has WC coverage by contact the Employee Assistance and Ombudsman Office or email: wceao@ myfloridafo.com.
CLASSIFICATION OF SALON WORKERS
The Professional Beauty Association (PBA) states that most salon owners rely on independent contractors to work in their salon. Today, more than 90% of all salons have no direct employees, meaning they either have just one person cutting hair or rely completely on independent contractors. Meanwhile, more than a third of all hairdressers, stylists, and cosmetologists are self-employed, compared to just 7% of the overall workforce.
In many businesses, including the salon industry, there exist unscrupulous salon owners who will exploit workers in the cosmetology field by not classifying them correctly with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The worker may indeed be an employee, and fit the IRS definitions of an employee, but to save on WC costs, employee taxes, and other costs, the owners categorize the worker as an independent contractor or booth renter. By classifying a worker this way, the worker is actually self-employed and responsible for their own taxes and insurance, relieving the salon owner of any WC expenditures and leaving the worker unprotected. The IRS and many states have adopted common law principles to define an independent contractor. These rules focus primarily on the level of control an employer has over a service or product, meaning whether or not the employer actually defines what is being done and how it will be accomplished. If any questions arise as to whether a worker is an employee or self-employed, go to the IRS webpage “Small Business and Self-Employed Individuals” at https://www. irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/ Independent-Contractor-Self-Employed-or-Employee. There is an abundance of information on the topic.
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Book Code: CFL1025
EliteLearning.com/Cosmetology
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