Dear Fellow Floridians:
At the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, I announced the creation of a working group to review the practices of certain bad actors in the check cashing services industry who are aiding in workers’ compensation premium fraud. This kind of fraud puts pressure on rates and is crippling those in the business community who play by the rules. These highly organized schemes are diverting more than a billion dollars from Florida’s economy.
This latest workers’ compensation premium scheme is orchestrated by individuals who know the construction and subcontracting industry and are intent on evading payment of workers’ compensation premiums. Florida law generally requires every employee in the construction industry to be covered by workers’ compensation insurance. The effect of this scheme is that workers are left unprotected and honest employers suffer from an uneven playing field because they are consistently outbid on construction projects by those who skirt premium requirements.
We are committed to dismantling this scheme and putting these cheats behind bars. I am looking forward to working with my Division of Insurance Fraud as well as the Office of Financial Regulation, the Attorney General’s Office, and the construction and money services industries to develop solutions for combating this growing crime trend. Bringing together stakeholders will take us one step closer to the solutions we need to expedite jail time for these con artists.
Sincerely,
Jeff Atwater
Chief Financial Officer
State of Florida
Read more here: http://www.myfloridacfo.com/pressoffice/newsletter/
At the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, I announced the creation of a working group to review the practices of certain bad actors in the check cashing services industry who are aiding in workers’ compensation premium fraud. This kind of fraud puts pressure on rates and is crippling those in the business community who play by the rules. These highly organized schemes are diverting more than a billion dollars from Florida’s economy.
This latest workers’ compensation premium scheme is orchestrated by individuals who know the construction and subcontracting industry and are intent on evading payment of workers’ compensation premiums. Florida law generally requires every employee in the construction industry to be covered by workers’ compensation insurance. The effect of this scheme is that workers are left unprotected and honest employers suffer from an uneven playing field because they are consistently outbid on construction projects by those who skirt premium requirements.
We are committed to dismantling this scheme and putting these cheats behind bars. I am looking forward to working with my Division of Insurance Fraud as well as the Office of Financial Regulation, the Attorney General’s Office, and the construction and money services industries to develop solutions for combating this growing crime trend. Bringing together stakeholders will take us one step closer to the solutions we need to expedite jail time for these con artists.
Sincerely,
Jeff Atwater
Chief Financial Officer
State of Florida
Read more here: http://www.myfloridacfo.com/pressoffice/newsletter/
