State v. Special Disability Trust Fund

The employer/self insurer appeal a workers’ compensation order denying their claim for reimbursement under section 440.49(2), Florida Statutes (1983). We reverse.

The state, not the agency, is the employer for purposes of the workers’ compensation act. State, Dept. of Corrections v. Koch, 582 So.2d 5, 6 (Fla. 1st DCA), review denied, Dept. of Corrections v. Koch, 592 So.2d 679 (Fla.1991). Because the Judge of Compensation Claims found that the claimant’s former personnel officer at the Department of Correction knew of his multiple sclerosis as early as 1978, he erred in concluding that the…