JACK FEAGIN ELECTRIC, INC., AND AMCOMP PREFERRED, APPELLANT,
v.
JEFF HALLMARK, APPELLEE
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The court held that temporary partial disability benefits and attorney fees were improperly awarded before the claimant submitted required employee earning report forms.
The Employer/Carrier appealed an order awarding temporary partial disability benefits and attorney fees to the Claimant. The Judge of Compensation Cla…
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HAWKES, J.
The Employer/Carrier (E/C) appeal the order of the Judge of Compensation Claims which found Claimant entitled to temporary partial disability (TPD) benefits for time periods for which he failed to submit employee earning report (DWC-19) forms, and for awarding Claimant’s attorney a fee for securing these benefits. Although the JCC held the E/C was not required to pay benefits for these time periods until the Claimant filled out and returned the forms, the JCC erred by finding the benefits due and owing and awarding fees, before the forms were submitted. Accordingly, we reverse.
Rule 38F-3.0191(9), Florida Administrative Code (2001), in pertinent part, provides:
The carrier may require information from the employee concerning the employee’s receipt of wages, unemployment compensation benefits, or Social Security benefits by sending the employee a copy of Form DWC-19, pursuant to Section 440.15(8), (10) and (11), F.S.... If the employee does not mail the completed form to the carrier within 21 days after the employee’s receipt of Form DWC-19, the carrier may suspend temporary partial compensation benefits until it receives the form.
Id. (emphasis added). Based on the plain language of the rule, a carrier may suspend TPD benefits until it receives an employee’s completed Form DWC-19. Here, because the JCC expressly found Claimant had not submitted the forms at the time of the hearing, TPD benefits were not due and owing. In fact, unless the forms are completed and returned, benefits may never be due and owing. Because the benefits requested were not due and owing at the time of the final hearing, and may never be due and owing, Claimant’s attorney did not secure a benefit for Claimant.
REVERSED and REMANDED for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
KAHN, and VAN NORTWICK, JJ., concur.
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Catalina Yachts & Bridgefield Emp'rs Ins. Co. v. Warren, 946 So. 2d 76 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006)…was not shown whether the claimant had received and returned any Employee Earnings Reports. Noting that without those forms the parties might be unable to determine the amount of benefits due, the order cited Jack Feagin Electric, Inc. v. Hallmark, 894 So. 2d 1083 (Fla. 1st DCA 2005), and specified that the benefits “are not payable until the forms are completed by the claimant and returned to the carrier.” The claimant’s entitlement to temporary partial disability benefits was disputed at the hearing, and…
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Republic Waste Servs. v. Ricardo, 68 So. 3d 934 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011)…employer, and denied penalties and interest for that reason,1 ruling “that the payment of such TPD benefits was not due and owing until claimant filed earnings reports for the appropriate time periods. See, Jack Feagin Electric[, Inc.] v. Hallmark, 894 So. 2d 1083 (Fla. 1st DCA 2005).” But the evidence did not establish, and the judge of compensation claims did not find, that the employer or its insurance carrier ever sent DWC-19 forms to the claimant in the present case. Relying on Florida Administrative Co…1 / 2
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Gervacio G. Aranca v. Munroe Reg'l Med. Ctr. & United Self Insured Servs., 945 So. 2d 613 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006)…t which indicated that temporary partial disability benefits could not then be awarded as it was not shown that the claimant had completed or submitted DWC-19 forms (Employee Earnings Reports). The order cited Jack Feagin Electric, Inc. v. Hallmark, 894 So. 2d 1083 (Fla. 1st DCA 2005), for the proposition that the benefits would not be due unless the forms are completed and returned. But the order specified that the temporary partial claim was not being denied with prejudice, and that if the benefits are not p…
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