Florida Court Finds Workers' Compensation Statute Unconstitutional

Executive Summary: Circuit Judge Jorge E. Cueto of the 11th Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County, Florida has found that Section 440.11 of Florida's Workers' Compensation Act (the "Act"), which makes the Act the "exclusive" remedy available to injured workers, their spouses, children and their estates for injuries or death on the job, is unconstitutional because it does not provide adequate medical care for injured workers or dollars to replace lost wages for injured workers. In striking down the exclusive remedy provision of the Act, the court held that the 2003 amendments to the Act, which removed compensation for partial loss of wage earning capacity, made the Act an inadequate exclusive replacement remedy in place of common law tort claims as required by the 14th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution or by the Florida Constitution.

Background: Padgett, an injured worker residing in Florida, along with other petitioners (Florida Workers' Advocates and Workers' Injury Law & Advocacy Group) sought a declaration from the court as to whether workers' compensation as an injured worker's exclusive remedy is constitutional in exchange for a tort action. The court held that Padgett, as one of thousands of similarly situated injured workers in Florida, had standing even though the issue as to the original plaintiff had become moot by the withdrawal of the employer's affirmative defense of workers' compensation immunity, because the court was "empowered" and "obligated" to decide a constitutional issue that is capable of repetition in the future but might evade review.

The Decision: The court found that the U.S. Supreme Court requires workers' compensation benefits to be "significant" if workers' compensation as the "exclusive" remedy is to pass muster under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (Due Process). The court also noted that in De Ayala v. Florida Farm Bureau Casualty Co., 543 So.2d 204 (Fla. 1989), the Florida Supreme Court held that Florida's workers have a "fundamental right" to workers' compensation based on the Florida Constitution (Art. 1, § 2), which provides individuals with the right "to be rewarded for industry." Statutes are subject to strict scrutiny if they impinge upon fundamental rights.

The court also noted that the Florida Supreme Court has previously held that the legislature lacks the power to repeal a category of benefits that were available under the Act when the Florida Constitution was adopted in 1968...