Legal Question in Workers Comp in Florida

Florida is a right-to-work state. This generally means that you have no right to work anywhere. However, an employer cannot discharge you for an inappropriate purpose (i.e. race, gender, etc...). It is also improper for an employer to retaliate against you for filing/pursuing a valid workers' compensation claim. Depending on the size of the employer, discharging you for a real or perceived disability could violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or possibly the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). I will tell you that is very hard to prove that an employer fired you because they considered you "damaged goods" or a "liability" because of your work injury and you did not mention if the employer was able to accommodate your injury/disability or if this was part of down-sizing.

Upon termination you are eligible to maintain your BC/BS coverage through COBRA. You will have to pay the entire premium. Please talk to your employer's benefit department about this. COBRA coverage can be fairly expensive (you are paying the whole amount of the group coverage plus some). You should also look for individual insurance before there is a lapse in your medical coverage.

You are entitled to temporary indemnity benefits through WC if you are unable to earn at least 80% of your pre-injury wages, and also, for the time you are off work for the surgery and recovery.You might be eligible for unemployment benefits, however, you should talk to an attorney first to see if timing issues could extend one or both of these benefits for a longer time (not a lot of work available for injured people in your reported zip code and experience has shown that many employers will not hire you with an active WC case). As for "disability", I assume that you are talking about Social Security. You have not provided enough information to guess on eligibility. Again, there are complicated issues if pursuing WC, Unemployment, and/or Soc. Sec. at the same time ( based on program rules that don't match up well) so you should talk to an attorney and most of us practicing in these areas will provide a free consultation..