Florida Workers’ Compensation
What If Your Employer Won’t Report Your Work Injury?
You reported an injury at work. Instead of sending it to the workers’ compensation carrier, your employer tells you to use your own insurance, promises to pay the medical bill, or asks you not to make a workers’ comp claim.
Sometimes the bill never gets paid. Sometimes the medical provider starts calling you. And sometimes an employee is made to feel that pursuing workers’ compensation could put the job at risk.
What if my employer will not report my injury to workers’ comp?
Florida law generally requires an employer to report a workplace injury to its workers’ compensation carrier within seven days after the employer has actual knowledge of the injury.
If the employer refuses, the Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation states that the injured worker has the right to report the injury directly to the employer’s insurance carrier.
What Should Happen After a Work Injury Is Reported?
Florida law generally requires an injured employee to notify the employer of a workplace injury within 30 days, subject to statutory exceptions.
Once the employer has actual knowledge of the injury, the employer generally has seven days to report the injury to its workers’ compensation carrier.
The employer learns that an accident or workplace injury occurred.
Section 440.185 generally requires this within seven days after actual knowledge.
That can include investigating the accident, addressing medical treatment, and evaluating other workers’ compensation benefits.
The injured worker can report the injury directly to the carrier.
Florida’s Division of Workers’ Compensation specifically states that an injured worker has that right when the employer will not report the injury.
What If the Employer Wants to Handle the Injury “Off the Books”?
Not every employer uses those words. Sometimes the employee is simply steered away from the workers’ compensation carrier.
Private health insurance and workers’ compensation are separate systems. Using health insurance does not decide whether an injury should be handled as workers’ compensation.
An employer may promise to pay the initial bill directly rather than reporting the accident to its workers’ compensation carrier.
The employee may be told that the injury is minor or that workers’ compensation is unnecessary.
An informal arrangement may sound easier at first, but it can become much more complicated if the injury does not resolve.
The concern is not simply what happens with the first medical visit. A workplace injury can later involve additional treatment, time out of work, restrictions, medications, or other benefits.
When the Promise Falls Apart
What If My Employer Promised to Pay the Hospital Bill, but Never Did?
This is where an informal agreement can become a very real problem for the injured worker.
The employer may tell the employee, “Don’t worry about workers’ comp. Give us the bill and we’ll take care of it.” Weeks or months later, the employee discovers that the bill was never paid.
The employee reasonably believes the medical expense is being handled and may hear nothing for a period of time.
The hospital or other provider may send statements because it has not received payment or workers’ compensation claim information.
The employee may start receiving collection notices or calls for a bill the employer said it would handle.
A bill or collection call does not necessarily mean the employee should ultimately be responsible for the charge.
Florida law generally provides that the injured employee is not liable for medical treatment or services provided pursuant to § 440.13, except as otherwise provided by the statute.
Florida’s Division of Workers’ Compensation also tells injured workers that authorized medical bills should be submitted by the medical provider to the employer’s workers’ compensation insurance company for payment.
The analysis can become more complicated when the employer never reported the accident, the provider did not have workers’ compensation information, or the treatment was never formally authorized. Those facts may need to be sorted out before anyone can determine who is responsible for the bill.
Why Does Properly Reporting the Claim Matter?
The first hospital bill may only be one part of the problem. Proper claim handling becomes more important when the injury develops beyond the initial visit.
The worker may later need an orthopedist, imaging, therapy, injections, surgery, medication, or other treatment.
An employer’s promise to pay a medical bill does not address potential indemnity benefits if the employee cannot work or cannot earn normal wages.
The injury may affect the employee’s ability to perform the regular job or require temporary restrictions.
What initially appears to be a minor injury may later require substantial treatment.
Pressure, Threats & Your Job
What If My Employer Suggests I Could Lose My Job for Using Workers’ Comp?
The statement does not have to be as direct as “file workers’ comp and you are fired” to deserve attention.
Florida Statute § 440.205 provides that an employer may not discharge, threaten to discharge, intimidate, or coerce an employee because of the employee’s valid workers’ compensation claim or attempt to claim workers’ compensation.
The wording and circumstances can matter even if the employer never expressly says the employee will be fired.
A statement connecting job security with the decision to pursue workers’ compensation may warrant closer review.
An employer may create pressure by suggesting favorable treatment depends on the employee not pursuing a claim.
Implied consequences may be important depending on who made the statement, its meaning, and what happened afterward.
Florida workers’ compensation law does not generally require an employer to hold an injured employee’s job indefinitely. But that is different from taking or threatening employment action because the employee filed or attempted to file a valid workers’ compensation claim.
Looking at the Whole Situation
What Can a Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Review?
When an employer tries to handle an injury informally, the medical, insurance, wage, and employment issues can quickly overlap.
What did the employee tell the employer and when?
Was the accident ever actually reported to the workers’ compensation insurance company?
Who received the bills, what was promised, what was paid, and whether collection activity has begun.
What care has already occurred and what additional treatment may be needed?
Has the injury affected the employee’s ability to work or earn wages?
Was anything said suggesting that reporting the injury or pursuing benefits could affect the employee’s job?
If the promise to “take care of it” has turned into unpaid bills or pressure at work, the situation deserves a closer look.
Chase Injury Law can review how the injury was reported, what the employer promised, what happened with the medical bills, and whether the workers’ compensation carrier was ever brought into the claim.
Common Questions
Employer Reporting and Workers’ Comp FAQs
How long does my employer have to report my work injury?
Florida law generally requires an employer to report the injury to its workers’ compensation carrier within seven days after the employer has actual knowledge of the injury.
What if my employer refuses to report it?
Florida’s Division of Workers’ Compensation states that an injured worker has the right to report the injury directly to the employer’s insurance carrier.
What if my employer promised to pay the hospital bill but did not?
A promise by the employer does not necessarily determine who is legally responsible for the bill. Florida law generally provides that an employee is not liable for medical treatment or services provided pursuant to § 440.13, except as otherwise provided by the statute. Whether the treatment was authorized, whether the claim was reported, and other circumstances can matter.
What if a collection agency is calling about my work-injury hospital bill?
Receiving a collection notice does not by itself determine who is responsible for a workers’ compensation medical bill. The claim, medical treatment, authorization, billing history, and whether the workers’ compensation carrier received the bill may need to be reviewed.
Can my employer tell me to use my own health insurance?
Private health insurance and workers’ compensation are separate systems. Using health insurance does not by itself determine whether the workplace injury should be covered through workers’ compensation.
Can my employer threaten my job if I pursue workers’ comp?
Florida Statute § 440.205 prohibits an employer from discharging, threatening to discharge, intimidating, or coercing an employee because of the employee’s valid workers’ compensation claim or attempt to claim workers’ compensation. Whether particular conduct violates the statute depends on the circumstances.
Michelle Chase, Esq.
Michelle Chase represents injured workers throughout Florida. Before focusing her practice on workers’ compensation, she served as a prosecutor. She has more than 10 years of legal experience and founded Chase Injury Law to provide injured workers with direct, knowledgeable representation.
Learn more about Michelle →Florida Workers’ Compensation Resources
This guide is based on Florida’s workers’ compensation statutes and information published by the Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation.
“We’ll take care of it” should not end with you holding the bill.
If your employer never reported the injury, promised to pay the medical expenses but did not, told you to use your own insurance, or suggested that workers’ compensation could affect your job, Chase Injury Law can review what happened and discuss how Florida law may apply.
Legal information disclaimer: This page is provided for general educational information only and is not legal advice. Florida workers’ compensation claims are fact-specific. Questions involving injury reporting, medical authorization, responsibility for medical bills, private health insurance, collection activity, reimbursement, threats, employment actions, deadlines, and entitlement to benefits may depend on the individual circumstances. Nothing on this page should be relied upon to determine responsibility for a particular medical bill, whether particular workplace conduct violates Florida law, or how a particular workers’ compensation claim should be handled. Reading this page, submitting a contact form, or speaking with Chase Injury Law does not create an attorney-client relationship. An attorney-client relationship is established only through a signed representation agreement.