Florida Workers’ Compensation
Workers’ Comp Adjuster Not Responding?
Your calls go to voicemail. Emails are ignored. A doctor recommends treatment and nothing gets scheduled. A check that used to arrive suddenly does not.
When a workers’ compensation claim goes quiet, you may not have to keep calling and waiting. Florida law provides a formal process for pursuing benefits and requiring the insurance carrier to take a position.
What can I do if my workers’ comp adjuster stops responding?
You do not necessarily have to keep leaving messages and hoping someone eventually calls you back.
If medical treatment, wage benefits, or another workers’ compensation benefit is ripe, due, and owing, an attorney may be able to formally pursue that benefit through a Petition for Benefits.
Once the carrier receives a proper Petition for Benefits, Florida law generally gives it 14 days to either pay the requested benefits or file a formal response identifying what it is not paying and explaining why.
When the Insurance Company Suddenly Goes Quiet
Sometimes there is no formal denial letter and no clear explanation. The claim simply stops moving.
You may be waiting for a specialist appointment that never gets scheduled, physical therapy that never gets authorized, a check that suddenly stops arriving, or an answer to a basic question about your claim.
The important issue is not simply that the adjuster is being unresponsive. It is whether the silence is preventing you from receiving medical care, wage benefits, or another benefit you may be entitled to under Florida workers’ compensation law.
Referrals, therapy, diagnostic testing, or appointments are not moving forward.
A wage-benefit payment does not arrive and no one explains why.
Repeated attempts to get an update produce no meaningful response.
The worker cannot tell whether a benefit is approved, denied, delayed, or simply sitting untouched.
If a benefit is not being provided, the issue may need to move from informal follow-up into the formal workers’ compensation process.
Turning Silence Into a Formal Dispute
How Can a Workers’ Comp Lawyer Get the Insurance Company to Respond?
An attorney is not limited to leaving another voicemail or sending another follow-up email.
Florida Statute § 440.192 allows an injured worker to file a Petition for Benefits for workers’ compensation benefits that are ripe, due, and owing.
Before filing, the claimant or attorney must make a good-faith effort to resolve the dispute with the carrier. If that does not work, the Petition can formally place the disputed benefit into litigation.
That may be medical treatment, a doctor, wage benefits, mileage reimbursement, or another benefit that may be due.
A Petition must include certification that an effort was made to resolve the dispute with the carrier before filing.
The Petition identifies the specific benefit being sought and formally places the dispute before the Office of the Judges of Compensation Claims.
The carrier must either pay the requested benefits or file a response listing what it is not paying and explaining its justification for nonpayment.
Before a Petition is filed, an injured worker may feel like emails and voicemails are disappearing into a black hole. After a proper Petition is received, Florida law imposes a formal response requirement on the carrier.
Why Does Filing a Petition Create Pressure on the Insurance Company?
A Petition does more than ask the carrier for another update. It creates legal deadlines and, in some circumstances, potential financial consequences if benefits remain denied and an attorney later succeeds in obtaining them.
Pay or formally respond
Within 14 days after receiving a Petition for Benefits, the carrier generally must either pay the requested benefits or file a formal response identifying unpaid benefits and explaining why they are not being paid.
Attorney-fee exposure may begin to matter
Florida law provides that attorney’s fees do not attach under the applicable fee provisions until 30 days after the carrier receives the Petition for Benefits.
There can be a financial reason for the carrier to address a legitimate disputed benefit.
Florida workers’ compensation law allows carrier-paid attorney’s fees in certain circumstances when an injured worker hires an attorney, benefits are denied, and the attorney successfully obtains those benefits.
That does not mean the carrier automatically owes attorney’s fees on day 31. The statutory requirements still have to be satisfied.
But once a Petition has been filed, continuing to deny a benefit can carry consequences that did not exist when the issue was simply sitting in an unanswered email chain.
In practical terms, the insurance company has more reason to evaluate the issue, decide its position, and respond once a formal claim is pending.
What Kind of Problems Can an Attorney Help Move Forward?
The appropriate remedy depends on what is actually being delayed or withheld. The goal is not simply to make the adjuster call back. It is to identify the benefit that is not being provided and determine how Florida law allows it to be pursued.
Treatment is not moving
A doctor recommends an MRI, therapy, specialist, surgery, or other treatment, but authorization or scheduling stalls.
The referral never gets scheduled
The authorized doctor makes a referral, but weeks pass and no appointment is arranged.
Checks stop or never arrive
Temporary disability payments may be delayed, interrupted, or stopped without the worker understanding what changed.
A request is simply being ignored
Mileage, medical benefits, or another benefit may be sitting unresolved even though the injured worker believes it is due.
Is the Insurance Company Hoping I Eventually Give Up?
When nobody answers you, it can certainly feel that way.
There are many possible reasons a claim stops moving. An adjuster may be overloaded, the file may have been reassigned, the carrier may be reviewing an issue internally, or the carrier may dispute that a benefit is owed.
You usually cannot know the reason for the silence from the lack of communication alone.
Florida’s workers’ compensation system provides formal procedures for disputed benefits. Once a proper Petition for Benefits is filed, the issue is no longer simply an unanswered request.
Moving the Claim Forward
What Can a Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Do?
The value of representation is not simply having someone else call the adjuster for you.
A lawyer can determine what benefit may be due, gather the information needed to support the request, attempt to resolve the issue, and use the formal workers’ compensation process when the carrier does not voluntarily provide the benefit.
Determine exactly what treatment, compensation, or other benefit is not being provided.
Examine medical recommendations, work status, payment history, and carrier communications.
Make the required good-faith effort to resolve the dispute before filing litigation.
When appropriate, formally pursue benefits that are ripe, due, and owing.
A proper Petition generally requires the carrier to pay or formally respond within the statutory period.
If the dispute is not resolved, an attorney can continue pursuing the claim through the workers’ compensation process.
We can change the situation from you asking for answers to the insurance company having to take a position.
If your adjuster has stopped responding, treatment is stalled, or checks are not arriving, tell us what is happening. Chase Injury Law can review the claim and discuss what benefits may be available and how they can be pursued.
Common Questions
Workers’ Comp Adjuster Not Responding FAQs
Is my workers’ comp adjuster required to answer every phone call or email?
Florida law does not create one universal response deadline for every email or voicemail. Different statutory obligations apply depending on the benefit, request, or issue involved. The more important question is often whether the lack of communication is delaying a benefit that may be due.
What is a Petition for Benefits?
A Petition for Benefits is a formal pleading used in Florida’s workers’ compensation system to pursue specific benefits that are alleged to be ripe, due, and owing.
Does my attorney have to contact the insurance company before filing a Petition?
A Petition must include certification that the claimant or claimant’s attorney made a good-faith effort to resolve the dispute and was unable to do so with the carrier.
How long does the insurance company have to respond after a Petition is filed?
Section 440.192 generally requires the carrier, within 14 days after receipt of the Petition, to either pay the requested benefits or file a response identifying the benefits not being paid and explaining the justification for nonpayment.
Does the insurance company automatically owe attorney’s fees after 30 days?
No. The statute provides that attorney’s fees do not attach under the applicable fee provisions until 30 days after the carrier receives the Petition, but the requirements for a carrier-paid attorney’s fee must still be satisfied.
Can a lawyer help if my doctor appointment is not being scheduled?
Potentially. A lawyer can review what the authorized doctor recommended, whether authorization was requested, whether the carrier responded, and whether medical treatment may need to be formally pursued.
What if my workers’ compensation checks stopped too?
That may involve a separate dispute over temporary disability benefits or another compensation issue. Florida law also requires a carrier to provide notice when compensation is suspended or ceased.
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.
You should not have to keep chasing the insurance company for answers.
If your adjuster has stopped responding, your medical care is not moving, or your checks have stopped, the problem may require more than another phone call. A workers’ compensation attorney can identify what benefits may be due and formally pursue them when appropriate.
Legal information disclaimer: This page is provided for general educational information only and is not legal advice. Florida workers’ compensation claims are fact-specific, and the availability of a Petition for Benefits, attorney’s fees, medical treatment, wage benefits, penalties, interest, or other relief depends on the circumstances of the individual claim. The 14-day and 30-day periods discussed on this page do not mean that every Petition results in payment, that attorney’s fees are automatically owed, or that every unanswered request violates Florida law. Nothing on this page should be relied upon to determine 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.