JCC Finds Statutory Employer Liable After Fiber-Optic Trench Amputation

In Sanchez v. Afford Tech, LLC/Benchmark Insurance Company/CCMSI, OJCC Case No. 25-020912JPM, the claimant suffered a below-knee amputation after a Ditch Witch chain pulled him into a trench while he was helping install underground fiber-optic conduit.

Judge John P. Moneyham found Afford Tech liable as the statutory employer under section 440.10(1)(b), rejecting the defense that there was no employer-employee relationship. The order found that Afford Tech had subcontracted part of its contractual work to L & E Underground, that L & E lacked workers compensation coverage, and that the combined work arrangement brought the claimant within Florida workers compensation coverage.

The practical takeaway is that subcontracting and uninsured labor layers do not necessarily defeat coverage. Because Afford Tech was treated as the statutory employer, the JCC awarded six weeks of catastrophic TTD at 80 percent of a $1,250 average weekly wage, TPD thereafter through final hearing, follow-up medical care, emergency treatment, compensability of the amputation, penalties, interest, costs, and attorney fees.

Source: Compensation Order