Florida: Grace Period to Avoid Attorney’s Fees is Not Extended by Weekends or Holidays

The 30-day “grace” period found in § 440.34(3)(b), Fla. Stat., which allows an employer/carrier to avoid the imposition of attorney fees if the the employer/carrier either accepts the claim or provides the requested benefits within 30 days of its receipt of the petition for benefits, is not extended by holidays or weekend days in spite of a general provision — Rule 60Q-6.109 — that would appear to so extend, held a Florida appellate court. Accordingly, in the instant case, where the grace period expired on a Saturday, and the employer/carrier accepted the claim the following Monday and issued a check for indemnity benefits that same day, it was within the discretion of the Judge of Compensation Claims to award the claimant employer/carrier-paid attorney’s fees.

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

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Zenith Ins. Co. v. Cruz, 2020 Fla. App. LEXIS 1743 (1st DCA, Feb. 12, 2020)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 133.02.

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

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see

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