The Division swept your county this week. Here is what the employers who were served should do in the next 21 days

By Adrian Middleton · Friday, October 9, 2026

How a sweep works

A compliance sweep is a coordinated week in which investigators from one district office, sometimes joined by DBPR and local building departments, work every active construction site in a target area. They identify crews, check the coverage and exemption databases from the truck, interview workers on the spot, and serve stop-work orders on the employers who come up uninsured. Dozens of orders in a county in three days is normal.

The investigators are efficient because the facts are simple: a crew is working, the company paying them has no Florida policy or valid exemptions, and the workers said so on the field interview worksheet. Everything after that is arithmetic.

The first 21 days

1. Stop work everywhere, not just the site that was posted. Each day in violation is $1,000 and a felony.
2. Do not produce records yet. The records request that came with the order has a 21-day deadline, and within that window you need to know what the records show under both penalty methods and whether anything in them creates criminal exposure.
3. Get coverage. A policy, a PEO that enrolls the workers, or exemptions for qualifying officers. A first-time employer's initial premium payment is credited against the penalty if documented within 21 days.
4. Collect every subcontractor certificate of insurance and exemption, and verify each on the Division's database.
5. Calendar the petition deadline: 21 days from receipt of the order.
6. Ask for a conditional release as soon as coverage is in place and the $1,000 down payment can be made.

The two mistakes that cost the most

The first is producing records without an audit. The 25 percent first-time reduction is real, but so is the imputed alternative, and so is the fraud referral that follows a records production showing cash payroll. Know the numbers first.

The second is talking. The investigator's questions about how long the crew has worked for you and how you pay them are the elements of a felony under section 440.105(4)(a)3. Say that your attorney will be in contact, and mean it.

Sweep season

Sweeps cluster after hurricanes, at the start of the year when policies lapse for non-payment, and whenever a district office has a referral backlog. If your area was just hit, your neighbors' orders are the warning. Verify your own coverage, your officers' exemptions and your subs' certificates today.