By T.S. Strickland
This month hasn’t been a good one for Kelley Bradford. The Escambia County jail employee, who saved the life of Corrections Officer Chris Hankinson during last year’s explosion at the Central Booking and Detention Facility, is among 13 county employees injured in the blast who now face termination if they don’t return to work by next week.
Bradford, who suffered physical and psychological injuries in the explosion, is still under the care of a psychiatrist and psychologist, who have told her she is not yet well enough to return to work. At 56 years old, Bradford faces the prospect of losing her job, retirement and benefits. Her future is uncertain.
In the midst of all this, she has had some small glimmer of hope. When Director of Corrections Michael Tidwell delivered the letter to Bradford warning her of her impending termination, he assured her the county would fulfill its obligations under the state’s workers compensation law.
Those obligations, however, are limited — due to the way in which state law treats workers with psychological injuries.
“Mental or nervous injuries without some type of physical trauma are not compensable,†Maureen Proctor said this week. Proctor is a board-certified workers’ compensation attorney based in Tallahassee. “The physical trauma doesn’t have to be ongoing, but there has to have been one to start the claim. If someone has (for instance) only PTSD, he or she is likely without remedy under Florida workers’ compensation law.â€
Bradford, who sustained both mental and physical trauma, is covered under the law, at least for now, and has been receiving temporary total disability payments, equal to about two-thirds her prior pay, as well as medical care. State law guarantees that injured workers’ medical costs will be covered for life, according to Pensacola attorney Brian Carter, who is representing several of the injured employees. The same is not true of lost wages, however.
By Florida law, workers can receive disability benefits for two years, or until they are deemed by a doctor to have reached maximum recovery, whichever comes first. At that point, they are evaluated to determine their permanent impairment rating, a number from one to 100.
If they score a 20 or higher, they are considered permanently disabled and can receive wage-loss benefits until 75 years old. In the case of psychological injuries, Carter said, a worker might be eligible for permanent disability if their injuries were to prevent them from finding work within 50 miles from their home.
All others would receive a one-time payout based on their impairment rating.
“If you have a bad back, you can get benefits, potentially, for the rest of your (working) life,†Pensacola attorney John Carr said. Carr, who is also representing several injured county employees, said the same was not true of psychological injuries.
In those cases, impairment benefits — excluding those who are deemed permanently disabled — are capped at one percent, or less than three weeks’ pay.
It’s possible Bradford could not even receive that. Florida law places special restrictions on temporary disability benefits for psychological injuries. By law, these workers can collect disability for a maximum of six months after they have recovered from their physical injuries — regardless of the severity of their mental condition.
In exchange for this assistance, employees are precluded by state law from suing their employer. That means the county is immune from being sued by its workers for their injuries in civil court. Bradford and her colleagues cannot hope to be compensated for any “pain and suffering†— beyond their lost wages and medical costs — the explosion might have caused them, unless a third party were to be found responsible for the blast.
This “exclusive remedy†provision of the state’s law could be overturned. A South Florida circuit judge recently ruled it unconstitutional. That ruling is being appealed. However, for now, employees are left with few options.
“Cross your fingers that this horrible law gets thrown out by the Florida Supreme Court,†Proctor said.