By Adrian Middleton, Sword & Shield, PLLC · Updated Monday, October 19, 2026
How the investigator checks
Section 440.107(3) lets the investigator enter any jobsite at a reasonable time, identify the workers, and examine records. The first thing they do with a name is run it against the Division's coverage and exemption database from the truck. They match the name to a certificate, the certificate to a company, and the company to the entity on the permit, the truck, and the checks. Any gap in that chain is a finding, and the investigator records it on the field interview worksheet before anyone has called a lawyer. What the process looks like from service to release.
Failure 1: expired
Two years from issuance, at midnight (s. 440.05(6)). From that minute the officer is an employee. The investigator sees the expiration date on the screen. If the company has no policy, the Department's penalty worksheet picks up the officer's pay from the expiration date, or from the start of the lookback period if the certificate expired before it, at the class code for the officer's work, times two (s. 440.107(7)(d)1).
Failure 2: wrong entity
A certificate applies to the company named in it (s. 440.05(3), (11)). Smith Roofing, Inc. was dissolved and the owner formed Smith Roofing, LLC; the certificate still says Inc. Checks from the LLC to the owner are uninsured payroll. This is the single most common failure in a records review, and it is invisible to the owner until the worksheet arrives.
Failure 3: not on Sunbiz
Section 440.05(10) requires the officer to be listed in the Division of Corporations records. An annual report that lapsed dissolves the entity; the certificate was issued to an officer of a company that, as far as the state is concerned, no longer exists. Reinstating the entity on Sunbiz does not retroactively restore the exemption for the weeks it was dissolved.
Failure 4: over the limit
In construction, three exempt officers per corporation or affiliated group, each at 10 percent or more (s. 440.02(18)(b)2). The investigator counts across the companies that share the trucks and the bank account. The fourth officer's pay is penalty payroll, and the affiliation finding goes into the file as evidence of structuring.
Failure 5: the exempt officer's own crew
An exemption removes one person from the definition of employee. It does nothing for the two helpers on the roof with him. A contractor who hired an 'exempt sub' is liable for the sub's uninsured employees under section 440.10(1)(b), and the sub is an uninsured employer in his own right. Both get orders. Section 440.10(1)(c) requires the contractor to collect evidence of the sub's coverage or exemption and keep it; the exemption certificate for the sub's owner is not evidence of coverage for the sub's workers.
A typical jobsite
Four roofers on a roof. One has an exemption, one has an exemption for a different LLC, two are paid cash by the first one. The Department sees one exempt officer, one uninsured officer, and two uninsured employees, and the general contractor is liable for all three under section 440.10(1)(b).
What it costs on the worksheet
For each failed exemption, the officer's actual wages for the lookback period go onto the penalty worksheet, Form DFS-F4-1595, at the approved rate for the class code of the work they were doing, and the premium is doubled. If records are not produced within 21 days of the request, payroll is imputed instead at 1.5 times the statewide average weekly wage for every identified person, which is $2,036.93 per week for 2026, times 52 weeks or 104 (s. 440.107(7)(e)). One officer imputed for a year is $105,920 of payroll before the rate is applied. Run both methods on the free calculator or line by line in the guide's worksheet.
Fixing exemptions after the order
Section 440.107(7)(a) conditions release on coming into compliance. For an owner-operator, compliance can be a new or renewed exemption plus coverage for any workers. The certificate is effective when issued or 30 days after receipt (s. 440.05(5)), so file the same day. It will not reduce the penalty for the period before it issues, but it is the fastest path to a conditional release: proof of compliance, a $1,000 down payment, and a payment agreement under Rule 69L-6.025. See getting the order released.
What not to do
- Do not tell the investigator the certificate is current without looking. They are looking.
- Do not hand over the checks that show which entity paid you. Decide with counsel whether to produce records at all; the imputed penalty is sometimes lower, and records can contain things nobody is required to volunteer. See the records request.
- Do not make the helpers 'officers' this week. A false notice is a third-degree felony under section 440.05(4), and coercing an employee into an exemption is a first-degree misdemeanor under section 440.105(2)(a)1.
Served, and your exemption did not hold? Call or text before you talk to the investigator.
(850) 766-6825Free consultation, 24/7Questions
If I had an exemption, why did I get a stop-work order?+
Either the certificate failed for one of the five reasons on this page, or the order is for employees the certificate never covered. The order itself will say whether it is for failure to secure coverage or failure to produce records; the penalty worksheet will show whose pay was counted.
Can I get the penalty reduced by proving the exemption was valid?+
Yes, if it was. Rule 69L-6.028 gives 20 business days after the first penalty calculation to provide records for recalculation, and a valid certificate for the right entity for the right dates removes that officer's payroll from the worksheet. That is a recalculation argument, not a reason to delay the 21-day petition deadline.
Does an exemption protect me from the criminal referral?+
A valid exemption means the officer was not an uninsured employee, which removes that payroll from the case. It does not protect against a referral based on uninsured workers, understated payroll, or false statements. See criminal exposure.