Workers' compensation.

• Author: Brooks, John P.
• Position: Board certification

In the last 25 years, no other area of the law has undergone more changes than the field of workers' compensation law. These changes have ranged from minor tweaks to "corrective" repair (often in response to unanticipated-appellate decisions) to substantial reassembling to complete overhauls. No idea has been too far fetched, no inhabitant of the workers' compensation jungle too sacred, and no change too dramatic for successive legislatures and governors.

Since my entrance into the field of workers' compensation in 1978 there have been four complete overhauls of the entire system, another half dozen substantial reassemblings, scores of individual "corrections," and countless tweaks nearly every year in between. The first major overhaul occurred in the late 70s and early 80s, when the concept of "wage loss" came into being. This "cure-all" was designed to correct the arbitrary impairment and disability system that existed for many years by replacing it with a plan that more realistically reflected an injured worker's true disability status after reaching the medical plateau of maximum medical improvement. At least that was the hope.

The 80s also saw deputy commissioners become judges of compensation claims, the chief commissioner become the chief judge, and appellate jurisdiction move from the Industrial Relations Commission to the First District Court of Appeal. Settlements could not include future medical care. Vocational rehabilitation shifted to the employer/carriers and vocational rehabilitation nurses, experts, and companies literally sprang up overnight (and in the strangest places). In the mid 80s, among other changes, a three-member panel was created to review and set medical reimbursements, more restrictions were placed on attorneys' fees, changes were made in what could be included in the average weekly wage, and wage loss entitlement began to narrow.

Finally in 1989, serious rumblings began to resonate out of Tallahassee and a number of changes were made. Among the major changes: a special drug-free workplace defense was born; exclusivity of liability was tightened up; overutilization review of medical care was strengthened; mediations became part of the practice; further restrictions were placed on attorneys' fees; vocational rehabilitation reverted back to the division; and an oversight board was created.

In 1990, the legislature had enough and a major overhaul hit the books. The 10-year wage loss entitlement period succumbed...