I issued stop-work orders for the Division of Workers' Compensation before I practiced law. I calculated the penalties, I interviewed the crews, I referred the bad cases to the fraud investigators down the hall, and I was trained by the Department as a forensic auditor to find payroll that employers thought was invisible. This guide is what I wish every employer I served had known before I got out of the truck.
A stop-work order case has a shape. Learn the shape and nothing in it will surprise you.
The three clocks
| Clock | Starts | Length | What it controls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Petition on the order | Receipt of the stop-work order | 21 days | Your right to contest the order itself under Chapter 120 |
| Records | Receipt of the Request for Production of Business Records | 21 days | Avoiding a records-based order; the 25% first-time reduction; the premium credit |
| Pay or agree | Service of the first penalty assessment calculation | 21 days | Keeping a conditional release: pay in full or sign the payment agreement, or the order is reinstated |
Two more windows matter: 21 days from each Order of Penalty Assessment or Amended Order to petition on the amount, and 20 business days after the first penalty assessment calculation to produce records and have an imputed penalty recalculated (Rule 69L-6.028).
The one decision
Everything in a stop-work order case turns on whether, and what, you produce in response to the business records request. There are two penalty methods:
- Records method. Two times the premium on your actual uninsured payroll, by worker, by week, by class code, over 12 months (24 for understated payroll or repeat employers). Minimum $1,000. A first-time employer who produces records within 21 days gets 25 percent off and a credit for the initial premium on the new policy.
- Imputed method. Two times the premium on $2,036.93 per week (1.5 × the 2026 statewide average weekly wage) for every worker, officer, partner and sole proprietor the Department can identify, for every week of the period, at the highest-rated class code. No 25 percent reduction.
For some employers the records number is a fraction of the imputed number. For others the reverse. And the records themselves may show things (cash payroll, check-cashing, false certificates, identity problems) that turn a civil penalty into a felony referral under section 440.105(4). Records are not required to resolve a stop-work order. The decision to produce them is yours, it should be made with counsel, and it should be made with both numbers in front of you. That is what the worksheet in Chapter 14 is for.
How to use this guide
- Read Chapters 2 and 3 today: the order and the records request.
- Build the records inventory in Chapter 4 without producing anything.
- Learn the formula and the class codes in Chapters 5 and 6.
- Run your own numbers in Chapter 7 and the worksheet, both ways (Chapter 8).
- Use Chapter 9 to identify every document the Department hands you.
- Chapters 10 and 11 cover getting back to work and contesting the number.
- Chapters 12 and 13 cover the two parallel cases: criminal and licensing.
- Chapter 14 walks the worksheet line by line.
Read this
This guide explains Florida law and the Department's process in general terms. It is not advice about your facts, and reading it does not make you a client. The consultation is free, 24 hours a day. Use it.