Stop-work order questions, answered

An order issued by the Department of Financial Services, Division of Workers' Compensation, Bureau of Compliance under section 440.107(7)(a), Florida Statutes, requiring an employer that has failed to secure workers' compensation coverage (or failed to produce required records within 21 days) to cease all business operations. It takes effect when served or posted, applies to every Florida worksite once served on the employer, and stays in effect until the Department releases it.

Investigators of the Bureau of Compliance in the Division of Workers' Compensation, which is part of the Florida Department of Financial Services under the Chief Financial Officer. The Bureau's authority comes from section 440.107 and Rule Chapter 69L-6, Florida Administrative Code.

No coverage; lapsed, cancelled or non-Florida coverage; invalid or expired exemptions; materially understating payroll or misclassifying workers (which section 440.107(2) deems a failure to secure coverage even with a policy); and failing to produce business records within 21 days of a written request. See what causes a stop-work order.

Section 440.107(7)(a) requires the Department to issue the order within 72 hours after determining the employer has failed to secure coverage.

Yes. Service at a worksite is effective there immediately, and service on the employer is effective at every worksite in the state where the employer is not in compliance.

A penalty of $1,000 per day under section 440.107(7)(c), and knowingly violating the order is insurance fraud under section 440.105(4)(b)8, a felony. Law enforcement may be called in under section 440.107(12) to clear the site.

No. Section 440.107(7)(b) makes the order and penalty effective against any successor entity with one or more of the same principals in the same or equivalent trade.

Yes. Section 440.107(7)(a) requires stop-work order information to be posted on the Division's website for at least five years.

21 days from receipt to file a petition for a hearing under Chapter 120. The Order of Penalty Assessment and each Amended Order carry their own 21-day deadline.

21 days after receipt of the written Request for Production of Business Records. Producing within that time avoids a records-based stop-work order, earns a first-time employer the 25 percent reduction, and is the window for the premium credit.

If you have an Order of Conditional Release, you must pay in full or enter a payment agreement within 21 days after service of the first penalty assessment calculation, or the stop-work order is reinstated and the full balance is due.

Rule 69L-6.028 allows 20 business days after service of the first penalty assessment calculation (or the first Amended Order of Penalty Assessment) to provide all the requested records and have the penalty recalculated.

Two times the premium the employer would have paid, applying Florida's approved manual rates for the correct NCCI class codes to the uninsured payroll for the preceding 12 months (24 months for understated payroll or repeat employers), or $1,000, whichever is greater (section 440.107(7)(d)1). See the penalty audit.

If records are not produced, section 440.107(7)(e) imputes weekly payroll of 1.5 times the statewide average weekly wage for each worker, officer, partner and sole proprietor for each week. For 2026 that is $2,036.93 per worker per week. See imputed payroll.

For an employer never previously issued a stop-work order or penalty order: a credit for the initial premium paid on the new policy, a 25 percent reduction for producing records within 21 days, and a 15 percent reduction for passing the Department's online tutorial at a Department office within 21 days. The $1,000 minimum still applies.

Yes: $5,000 for each worker the employer represented as an independent contractor who does not meet the statutory definition (section 440.107(7)(f)).

Yes. With coverage in place and a $1,000 down payment, the Department may issue an Order of Conditional Release and a Payment Agreement Schedule for Periodic Payment of Penalty under Rule 69L-6.025. A missed payment reinstates the order.

Yes. Under section 440.107(11) an unpaid penalty is a lien on the employer's entire interest in real and personal property until collected.

Records are not required to resolve a stop-work order. An employer that does not produce them receives an imputed penalty under section 440.107(7)(e), and Rule 69L-6.028 provides a later window to produce them. Whether to produce, and what, is a strategic and sometimes a criminal-exposure decision that should be made with counsel. Never produce records without knowing what is in them.

Because the imputed penalty may be lower than the records-based penalty, and because records can contain evidence of cash payroll, check-cashing, false certificates or identity problems that create felony exposure under section 440.105 and that no one is required to volunteer.

Our review of your payroll, bank, tax and subcontractor records using the Department's own formula, before anything is produced, giving you the projected penalty under both methods, the payments that can be removed, and a criminal-exposure screen. See the pre-submission records audit.

Yes, under section 440.107(3)(f), with court enforcement and attorney's fees under section 440.107(6). A subpoena is answered differently from a voluntary request, and both are handled by counsel.

Construction employers with one or more employees; non-construction employers with four or more; and bona fide farms above the agricultural thresholds (section 440.02(20)). See coverage requirements.

Corporate officers and LLC members owning at least 10 percent who file a Notice of Election to be Exempt. Construction companies may exempt no more than three officers, each owning at least 10 percent and listed on Sunbiz; the fee is $50 and the certificate lasts two years. See exemptions.

Online with the Division of Workers' Compensation at myfloridacfo.com. Sword & Shield also files exemptions for clients; see the exemption filing service.

In construction, yes, unless they hold a valid exemption or their own policy (section 440.02(18)(c)). Outside construction, only if they fail the six-factor independent contractor test in section 440.02(18)(d)1.

A bona fide separate non-construction business, operating under non-construction class codes, needs coverage only when it has four or more employees, and its workers are its employees rather than the contractor's. Payments to such a business can be removed from a contractor's penalty calculation with proper evidence.

Yes. Knowingly failing to secure required coverage is insurance fraud under section 440.105(4)(a)3: a third-degree felony when the monetary value is under $20,000, second-degree from $20,000 to under $100,000, and first-degree at $100,000 or more (section 440.105(4)(f)). See criminal exposure.

Identify yourself and say your attorney will be in contact. Do not answer questions about workers, pay, payroll or coverage, do not sign anything, and do not hand over records. Call the cell; Adrian will speak to the investigator for you.

Section 440.107(14) requires the Department to immediately notify DBPR when a certified or registered contractor fails to secure coverage. That becomes a disciplinary case under Chapters 455 and 489. See licensed contractors.

Adrian Middleton issued stop-work orders, calculated penalties, worked payroll check-cashing fraud cases with the Division of Insurance Fraud, was trained by the Department as a forensic auditor, and served on the DBPR unlicensed activity task force before becoming an attorney. He reads the Department's worksheet the way the auditor who wrote it does. See about Adrian.

Yes. Call the cell at any hour, including while the investigator is on site. There is no charge for the call.

The guide is $99. The pre-submission audit and exemption filing are flat fees listed on the services page. Full defense is quoted after the free consultation based on payroll size, the period and whether a petition is needed. You can pay online.

Yes, statewide. The Department, the Division of Administrative Hearings and DBPR are all headquartered in Tallahassee, which is where the case is decided, and we meet clients by phone and video anywhere in Florida.