'It's Coming Around Again'

I cannot get Carly Simon out of my mind this morning. For some reason, when I think of her, Brittany Murphy comes to mind. I enjoyed her version of Carly's Nobody Does it Better in Little Black Book (Columbia, 2004)(a movie featuring a cameo by Carly). But back to Carly in her Coming Around Again (Coming Around Again, Arista 1987):

I know nothing stays the same

But if you're willing to play the game

It's coming around again

So, we know nothing stays the same, and the fact is that those that read this blog tend to already be "playing the game," that is working in the Florida workers' compensation litigation system. So, buckle up, "it's coming around again." change that is, counties moving, offices consolidating, mediation evolving, paradigms shifting. In Florida workers' compensation, these are interesting times. 

Change has been a persistence in the OJCC litigation system this century. In 2001, the Department of Labor ceased to exist and the OJCC moved to DOAH. In 2003 the first Chapter 60Q-6 Rules of Procedure for Workers' Compensation Adjudications were adopted (they have been changed and refined since). In 2005, the electronic filing paradigm came quietly to the scene, and in 2006 we began enthusiastically promoting it. In 2011, electronic filing became mandatory. Electronic service of documents through e-JCC came in 2013 for attorneys and evolved to carriers, and in 2019 to employers.

The first two decades of the twenty-first century have been largely about change. We have had some struggles with implementation, and we have all had to be flexible and patient. Who can forget those who swore they would never e-file? Or, all the e-JCC users that ignored our pleas to change their usernames and passwords? After the system transitioned in 2012 without them changing as told, there were hundreds of those users with password issues (our team worked tirelessly to get them back in the swing). In 2020 we were challenged with a pandemic, and this community pulled through that with flying colors. We have eliminated fax machines, adapted to Zoom, and professionally evolved in a multitude of ways.  

I recently had an opportunity to speak at an Inn of Court (there are five workers' compensation Inns in Florida: Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, Miami, and Treasure Coast). As I told the Inn members, the success of this community through the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is all on you. The judges, mediators, adjusters, doctors, risk managers, injured workers, and more that kept the litigation moving, adjusted to the challenges, shifted paradigms and persevered. As the world ground to a halt around us, Florida never faltered. As other litigation practices and adjudication systems stalled, locked up, or shut down, the Florida Comp litigation system never paused, faltered, or failed. I am immensely proud of everyone involved. 

Yes, there has been change this century. As Carly says, "It's coming around again." 

That is not to say that we know or can predict all that is going to change. We are in the process of consolidating offices and this will bring change. Part of that is in process and procedure, and change may persist as the impacts and effects of efforts require tweaks and adjustments. But, the remainder of this post is an attempt to forewarn you of what I do know as we near June, and the process begins in earnest. 

New mediators are coming. On June 6, 2022, we welcome Charles Hill (former JCC in MIA) back to the OJCC as a mediator in South Florida (primarily attached to the FTL office). On June 10, 2022, we welcome Kate Marshman as a new mediator in Central Florida (she will be primarily attached to the TPA office). I use "attached" because the location of mediators is going to become less important very soon, read on. 

We are offering all State mediators the opportunity to work remotely, and that is part of larger changes in the mediation process. This will mean that the case assignments will default to mediations being conducted by ZOOM. There has traditionally been one mediator per judge in a team process, each team responsible for largely the same case population. That will be ending as we transition. Mediators henceforth may be “in office,” “hybrid,” or “remote,” and that choice will be up to each mediator, not each judge.