Cases

Pursuant to Section 440.20(8)(b), Florida Statutes, the Department of Financial Services imposed upon the school board penalties based upon the  late payment of temporary total compensation.  The question in this case is whether, for purposes of Section 440.20(8)(b), Florida Statutes, late payments should be interpreted to mean payments made after the date that the payments were due or payments made more than 7 days after they were due.  The Department alleged that the penalties were payable if the temporary total benefits were late in payment and the school board argued that the payments were late for purposes of Section 440.20(8)(b), Florida Statutes, if paid more than 7 days after the benefits were due.

Court accepted review of issue based on statutory interpretation.  Accordingly, review is de novo.  In utilizing statutory interpretation rules and standards, court determined that penalty assessments under Section 440.20(8)(b), Florida Statutes, were payable if the payments were not timely paid with no allowance being given to extending the period for the payments by 7 days.

The school board had argued that penalties assessable under Section 440.20(8)(b), Florida Statutes, should be construed in pari materia with Section 440.20(6)(a), Florida Statutes, because both statutes include the phrase "late payments."  The court however said that the two statutory provisions were different.  The penalty imposed in Section 440.20(8)(b), Florida Statutes, is paid into the Workers' Compenastion Trust Fund and serves a regulatory compliance purpose.  The penalty in Section 440.20(6)(a), Florida Stautes, is paid to the injured employee as additional compensation.  Accordingly, the fact that a 7-day grace period before penalties must be paid to an injured worker under Section 440.20(6)(a) has no bearing on the proper interpretation of penalties payable under Section 440.20(8)(b), Florida Statutes.