COVID-19 Update
The firm remains open, fully functional and our team has seamlessly transitioned to remote operations with limited team members alternating and working from our Miami office.
A Message from Alex Almazan
Coronavirus continues to impact all of our lives. At Almazan Law, we are working to continue providing our services to our clients and have managed to maintain all of our lawyers and staff since the crisis began. All of our employees have transitioned to working from home by now. It was difficult for many at first to get used to it but thanks to their perseverance and our technologies in place long before this crisis, we are better every week. We have less children and spouses in the backgrounds of our zoom calls and our team continues to be as excellent as they were when we were physically together.
During this time we continue to be available for you as we now innovate further to be better and different on the other side of this event. A once every 100 years event has occurred and we are working hard here to ensure we are ready for the upcoming years that will now be very different. Your businesses will be vastly different. Restaurants, hotels, commercial real estate, canceled vacations, social distancing, further mandated shutdowns, loss of employment, and reduction of large scale gatherings are just some of the things that will change our businesses and our personal lives.
The planet has reset itself and I pray during this time that every one of you who reads this gains at least a little perspective of what is important in life as life just hit a massive global pause. May health, happiness, and your families are the primary answer will be my prayer for you and others.
God Bless you all and thanks for subscribing to follow what we are doing and can do for you.
- Alex Almazan, Managing Partner
Navigating the CARES Act. Your Business Today and 1 Year from Now
This upcoming week the firm will begin presenting 15-minute wellness and small business webinar series hosted by Alex Almazan who will be interviewing and discussing wellness and speaking honestly with small business owners that have been impacted by COVID-19 in hopes of providing their stories to others and answer questions. Check on our Facebook and Instagram feeds for additional information and see who our upcoming guests will be. We hope you will find this helpful during this time.
Follow our Facebook and Instagram to get more news and updates on our Webinar Series.
COVID-19 Implications on Compensability of Worker's Compensation Claims
We are being bombarded with COVID-19 “Coronavirus” news and information on a continuous basis. Much is still unknown as to the short- and long-term effects it will have on our lives and our WC industry. One thing is certain, there have been, and will continue to be, marked changes in how we manage claims due to COVID-19.
We are all collectively in business to manage worker’s benefits, intended to be self-executing while defending employers/carriers/servicing agents from abuse of the system and overreaching with the intent of preventing windfalls and mitigating exposures. COVID-19 is already having a significant impact on the insurance industry, which of course includes WC and its management.
What can we expect with only a percentage of the workforce deemed “essential”? Those employees are allowed, or rather, directed to continue working, thereby increasing their exposure to the COVID hazard.
What can we expect with an even larger percentage of the workforce on mandatory leave, some of whom may work remotely from home, while others do not have the option to continue working?
What can we expect with compensable claims where there are active treatment needs which cannot be met? What can we expect with claims which have been dormant, but are now revived, in an attempt to secure indemnity benefits because claimants are now out of work?
These are just a few of the questions that we will have to navigate in WC without much statutory guidance due to an unforeseeable pandemic. As time passes and cases develop, the way they are managed and defended will create a body of case law that is unprecedented.
By K. Kay Dodd Anderson, Esq.