NU Online News Service, Aug. 19, 12:15 p.m. EDT
ORLANDO, FLA.–Florida authorities have been raking in fines from a new Web site for whistleblowers to report employer workers' compensation law infractions, the state's chief financial officer said.
CFO Alex Sink noted that the site was created in June, "and in just two months we have received over 300 referrals."
Besides expediting investigations, she said the site has led to 36 stop-work orders and $500,000 has been collected in penalties.
Speaking at Monday's opening session of the Workers Compensation Educational Conference, presented by the Florida Workers' Compensation Institute in partnership with The National Underwriter Company, Ms. Sink said the site was put up because her department received frequent reports from citizens complaining about companies that failed to provide appropriate workers' compensation insurance.
She said concerns that the whistleblower site would result in illegitimate complaints from disgruntled employees and others have yet to be realized.
In addition to investigating whether work sites are in compliance with comp regulation, Ms. Sink said her department visits them to educate employers and has had seminars attended by 1,800 business owners.
Ms. Sink, a former bank president who was elected to head the Department of Financial Services in 2006 and is now campaigning to be the Democratic nominee in next year's gubernatorial contest, said she has focused on bringing a business-like approach to her agency.
With respect to workers' compensation, she said that as the top official for the state's risk management she began focusing on injured workers after learning Florida was paying out $100 million a year in workers' comp awards.
She said she had conferred with risk managers with the Disney entertainment organization and Publix supermarket chain who told her the state risk management system "had it backwards" and did not have employees focus on safety.
"We have begun to institute changes and shift employees to work on departments with the highest numbers of claims," she said.
In addition, Ms. Sink noted that Florida has a new third-party administrator for comp claims and the TPA recently visited a state prison to see firsthand how injuries occur.
"I am convinced we are going to save tens of millions of dollars," she said.
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