Florida: Delay Between Physical Exam and Hire Date Causes Police Officer to Lose Presumption of Compensability

As is the case with a number of other states, Florida has a special presumption of compensability that favors first responders, such as law enforcement officers and firefighters who contract specified diseases or conditions, such as cancer, heart disease, or hypertension. Florida’s provision, § 112.18(1)(a), applies only where the law enforcement officer has successfully passed a physical examination “upon entering into” service. The appellate court held that the 21-month interval between the officer’s physical examination and his hire date was too lengthy to qualify as “upon entering into” service and that the officer was accordingly not entitled to the presumption.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is the co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

City of Homestead v. Foust, 2018 Fla. App. LEXIS 1014 (1st DCA, Jan. 26, 2018)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 52.07.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law