Florida Approves Comp Rate Decrease

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty on Tuesday, October 28, approved an 18.6 percent workers’ compensation rate reduction effective January 1. (California and North Carolina have also recently approved comp-rate changes.)

The reduction will produce an estimated savings of more than $610 million for Florida employers, the commissioner said in a statement. It marks the sixth consecutive rate drop since 2003, when Florida lawmakers adopted sweeping workers’ comp reforms that have since reduced rates by more than 60 percent.

McCarty said employers could eventually face rate increases as a result of an October 23 Florida Supreme Court decision in the case of Murray v. Mariner. That ruling rejected certain attorney-fee limitations in the workers’ comp system. A reduction of those fees has been cited as one of the significant causes of rate declines, the commissioner said.

Filed by Roberto Ceniceros of Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

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