Florida Senate - 2010 CS for CS for SB 212
By the Committees on Banking and Insurance; and Criminal
Justice; and Senator Oelrich
597-04850-10 2010212c2
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to claims by law enforcement and
3 correctional officers; amending s. 30.2905, F.S.;
4 providing for interpretation of provisions relating to
5 workers’ compensation benefits for certain services
6 performed by off-duty deputy sheriffs; providing for
7 recovery by sheriffs of increased workers’
8 compensation expenses due to off-duty employment of
9 deputy sheriffs; amending s. 112.18, F.S.; providing
10 conditions under which a law enforcement officer,
11 correctional officer, or correctional probation
12 officer who suffers from a specified medical condition
13 and has materially departed from the prescribed
14 treatment for that condition shall lose a specified
15 presumption for workers’ compensation claims made on
16 or after a specified date; defining the term
17 “prescribed course of treatment”; providing for
18 independent medical examinations in certain
19 situations; providing that only claims made before
20 leaving employment are eligible for a specified
21 presumption; providing an effective date.
22
23 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
24
25 Section 1. Subsection (2) of section 30.2905, Florida
26 Statutes, is amended to read:
27 30.2905 Program to contract for employment of off-duty
28 deputies for security services.—
29 (2)(a) Any such public or private employer of a deputy
30 sheriff shall be responsible for the acts or omissions of the
31 deputy sheriff while performing services for that employer while
32 off duty, including workers’ compensation benefits.
33 (b) However, for the workers’ compensation purposes of this
34 section:,
35 1. A deputy sheriff so employed who sustains an injury
36 while enforcing the criminal, traffic, or penal laws of this
37 state shall be regarded as working on duty.
38 2. The term “enforcing the criminal, traffic, or penal laws
39 of this state” shall be interpreted to include providing
40 security, patrol, or traffic direction for a private employer.
41 3. A sheriff may recover from a private or public employer
42 of an off-duty deputy sheriff, who is regarded as working on
43 duty under this paragraph, any increase in the sheriff’s
44 workers’ compensation expenses which results directly from the
45 off-duty employment.
46 Section 2. Section 112.18, Florida Statutes, is amended to
47 read:
48 112.18 Firefighters and law enforcement or correctional
49 officers; special provisions relative to disability.—
50 (1)(a) Any condition or impairment of health of any Florida
51 state, municipal, county, port authority, special tax district,
52 or fire control district firefighter or any law enforcement
53 officer, or correctional officer, or correctional probation
54 officer as defined in s. 943.10(1), (2), or (3) caused by
55 tuberculosis, heart disease, or hypertension resulting in total
56 or partial disability or death shall be presumed to have been
57 accidental and to have been suffered in the line of duty unless
58 the contrary be shown by competent evidence. However, any such
59 firefighter or law enforcement officer must shall have
60 successfully passed a physical examination upon entering into
61 any such service as a firefighter or law enforcement officer,
62 which examination failed to reveal any evidence of any such
63 condition. Such presumption does shall not apply to benefits
64 payable under or granted in a policy of life insurance or
65 disability insurance, unless the insurer and insured have
66 negotiated for such additional benefits to be included in the
67 policy contract.
68 (b)1. For any workers’ compensation claim filed under this
69 section and chapter 440 occurring on or after July 1, 2010, a
70 law enforcement officer, correctional officer, or correctional
71 probation officer as defined in s. 943.10(1), (2), or (3)
72 suffering from tuberculosis, heart disease, or hypertension is
73 presumed not to have incurred such disease in the line of duty
74 as provided in this section if the law enforcement officer,
75 correctional officer, or correctional probation officer:
76 a. Departed in a material fashion from the prescribed
77 course of treatment of his or her personal physician and the
78 departure is demonstrated to have resulted in a significant
79 aggravation of the tuberculosis, heart disease, or hypertension
80 resulting in disability or increasing the disability or need for
81 medical treatment; or
82 b. Was previously compensated pursuant to this section and
83 chapter 440 for tuberculosis, heart disease, or hypertension and
84 thereafter sustains and reports a new compensable workers’
85 compensation claim under this section and chapter 440, and the
86 law enforcement officer, correctional officer, or correctional
87 probation officer has departed in a material fashion from the
88 prescribed course of treatment of an authorized physician for
89 the preexisting workers’ compensation claim and the departure is
90 demonstrated to have resulted in a significant aggravation of
91 the tuberculosis, heart disease, or hypertension resulting in
92 disability or increasing the disability or need for medical
93 treatment.
94 2. As used in this paragraph, “prescribed course of
95 treatment” means prescribed medical courses of action and
96 prescribed medicines for the specific disease or diseases
97 claimed and as documented in the prescribing physician’s medical
98 records.
99 3. If there is a dispute as to the appropriateness of the
100 course of treatment prescribed by a physician under sub
101 subparagraph 1.a. or sub-subparagraph 1.b. or whether a
102 departure in a material fashion from the prescribed course of
103 treatment is demonstrated to have resulted in a significant
104 aggravation of the tuberculosis, heart disease, or hypertension
105 resulting in disability or increasing the disability or need for
106 medical treatment, the law enforcement officer, correctional
107 officer, or correctional probation officer is entitled to seek
108 an independent medical examination pursuant to s. 440.13(5).
109 4. A law enforcement officer, correctional officer, or
110 correctional probation officer is not entitled to the
111 presumption provided in this section unless a claim for benefits
112 is made prior to leaving the employment of the employing agency.
113 (2) This section authorizes each governmental entity
114 specified in subsection (1) shall be construed to authorize the
115 above governmental entities to negotiate policy contracts for
116 life and disability insurance to include accidental death
117 benefits or double indemnity coverage which shall include the
118 presumption that any condition or impairment of health of any
119 firefighter, law enforcement officer, or correctional officer
120 caused by tuberculosis, heart disease, or hypertension resulting
121 in total or partial disability or death was accidental and
122 suffered in the line of duty, unless the contrary be shown by
123 competent evidence.
124 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.