Florida Statutes
Fla. Stat. § 440.015 (2025)
Legislative intent.
✓ 2025 Florida Statutes — current through the 2025 Regular Session
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440.015 Legislative intent.—It is the intent of the Legislature that the Workers’ Compensation Law be interpreted so as to assure the quick and efficient delivery of disability and medical benefits to an injured worker and to facilitate the worker’s return to gainful reemployment at a reasonable cost to the employer. It is the specific intent of the Legislature that workers’ compensation cases shall be decided on their merits. The workers’ compensation system in Florida is based on a mutual renunciation of common-law rights and defenses by employers and employees alike. In addition, it is the intent of the Legislature that the facts in a workers’ compensation case are not to be interpreted liberally in favor of either the rights of the injured worker or the rights of the employer. Additionally, the Legislature hereby declares that disputes concerning the facts in workers’ compensation cases are not to be given a broad liberal construction in favor of the employee on the one hand or of the employer on the other hand, and the laws pertaining to workers’ compensation are to be construed in accordance with the basic principles of statutory construction and not liberally in favor of either employee or employer. It is the intent of the Legislature to ensure the prompt delivery of benefits to the injured worker. Therefore, an efficient and self-executing system must be created which is not an economic or administrative burden. The department, agency, the Office of Insurance Regulation, and the Division of Administrative Hearings shall administer the Workers’ Compensation Law in a manner which facilitates the self-execution of the system and the process of ensuring a prompt and cost-effective delivery of payments.
History.—s. 8, ch. 90-201; s. 6, ch. 91-1; s. 1, ch. 93-415; s. 10, ch. 2002-194; s. 466, ch. 2003-261; s. 3, ch. 2012-135.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 118
cases (4 in the last 5 years), 1992–2026 · leading case: Marvin Castellanos v. Next Door Co., 192 So. 3d 431 (Fla. 2016).
Marvin Castellanos v. Next Door Co., 192 So. 3d 431 (Fla. 2016). “” § 440.015, Fla. Stat. (2009). Yet, while the Legislature has continued to enunciate this purpose, in reality, the workers’ compensation system has become increasingly complex to the detriment of the claimant, who depends on the assistance of a competent attorney to navigate…”
& SC13-1976 Bradley Westphal v. City of St. Petersburg, etc. & City of St. Petersburg, etc. v. Bradley Westphal, 194 So. 3d 311 (Fla. 2016). “” § 440.015, Fla. Stat. (2009). Section 440.”
Aguilera v. Inservices, Inc., 905 So. 2d 84 (Fla. 2005). “§ 440.015, Fla. Stat. (2000). Fundamentally, the workers' compensation system establishes a system of exchange between employees and employers, as well as employees and insurance carriers, that is designed to promote efficiency and fairness.”
Turner v. PCR, INC., 754 So. 2d 683 (Fla. 2000). “" § 440.015, Fla. Stat. (1997). [2] To that end, "[t]he workers' compensation system .”
US Sugar Corp. v. Henson, 823 So. 2d 104 (Fla. 2002). “" § 440.015, Fla. Stat. (2001). Indeed, the court below shared this fear, stating: "The imposition of a Frye standard of admissibility of novel scientific evidence will certainly increase the cost and create delay in workers' compensation proceedings.”
Taylor v. Sch. Bd. of Brevard Cnty., 888 So. 2d 1 (Fla. 2004). “The Division of Workers' Compensation shall administer the Workers' Compensation Law in a manner which facilitates the self-execution of the system and the process of ensuring a prompt and cost-effective delivery of payments.”
Matrix Emp. Leasing, Inc. v. Hadley, 78 So. 3d 621 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011). “See § 440.015, Fla. Stat. Yet, by this court's interpretation of the law in Oswald , it has become an impediment to the recovery of just compensation for a distinct class of severely injured workers.”
Schafrath v. Marco Bay Resort, Ltd., 608 So. 2d 97 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992). “26, Florida Statutes, which provided for the presumptions in favor of claimants in workers compensation cases, and with the enactment of Section 440.015, Florida Statutes, which abolished the concept of liberal construction in favor of claimants, a claimant must establish a…”
Westphal v. City of St. Petersburg/City of St. Petersburg Risk Mgmt., 122 So. 3d 440 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013). “See § 440.015, Fla. Stat. Yet, by this court’s interpretation of the law in Oswald and Hadley , it has become an impediment to the recovery of just compensation for a distinct class of severely injured workers.”
List Indus., Inc. v. Dalien, 107 So. 3d 470 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013). “at 688 ; § 440.015, Fla. Stat. (2005). Because this accident occurred in 2005, this version of the statute controls this case: Exclusiveness of liability.”
US Sugar Corp. v. Henson, 787 So. 2d 3 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001). “First, he submits that, because the workers' compensation scheme is based on "a mutual renunciation of common law rights and defenses by employers and employees alike," section 440.015, Florida Statutes (1995), the common law Frye standard could not be a bar to a claimant's…”
Pendergrass v. RD Michaels, Inc., 936 So. 2d 684 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006). “Florida's Workers' Compensation Act, Chapter 440, creates a system to compensate employees for work-related injuries and is intended to provide a "quick and efficient delivery of disability and medical benefits to an injured worker and to facilitate the worker's return to…”
— 440.015(6) — 1 case
Employbridge & Gallagher Bassett Servs., Inc. v. Viviana Llanes Rodriguez, 255 So. 3d 453 (Fla. 1st DCA 2018).
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