Produce records or take imputed payroll? The math behind a Florida stop-work order penalty

By Adrian Middleton · Tuesday, November 10, 2026

Two methods, one choice

Every stop-work order penalty is computed one of two ways. If you produce records, the auditor rates your actual uninsured payroll, by worker and by class code, over the lookback period. If you do not, section 440.107(7)(e) imputes payroll for every identified worker, officer, partner and sole proprietor at the statewide average weekly wage times 1.5, for every week of the period, at the highest-rated class code the investigator observed. Either way the premium is doubled and the floor is $1,000 (s. 440.107(7)(d)1).

The choice is yours. Records are not required to resolve the order. The point of this post is to show you how to compare the two numbers before the 21 days on the records request run out.

The imputed side

For orders issued in 2026 the statewide average weekly wage is $1,357.95, so imputed payroll is $2,036.93 per person per week:

• 52 weeks: $105,920 per person for a 12-month lookback.
• 104 weeks: $211,841 per person for the 24-month lookback that applies to understated payroll and repeat employers.

At an illustrative rate of $12 per $100 of payroll, one imputed worker over 12 months produces $105,920 ÷ 100 × 12 = $12,710 of premium, doubled to about $25,400 of penalty. Five identified workers is about $127,000. Officers without valid exemptions are imputed at the same figure as workers.

The records side

The records penalty is actual payroll ÷ 100 × rate × 2, with three first-time adjustments if you act within 21 days of the records request: a credit for the initial premium on the new policy, a 25 percent reduction for producing the records, and a further 15 percent for passing the Department's tutorial. The same worker paid $30,000 in the year, at the same illustrative $12 rate, is $7,200 of penalty before the reductions and $5,400 after the 25 percent.

The break-even

Holding the rate constant, the records method beats imputation for a given worker whenever that worker's actual uninsured pay for the 12 months is below roughly $141,000 ($105,920 ÷ 0.75, because imputation forfeits the 25 percent). Almost every hourly worker is below that. So why does imputation ever win? Four reasons the worksheet does not show:

1. Headcount. Imputation counts the workers the Department identified. Records count everyone you paid, including the men the investigator never saw.
2. Class code. Imputed payroll goes to the highest-rated code observed, but records put every dollar where it actually belongs, which cuts both ways when a crew is mixed.
3. The lookback. Records showing a tenure shorter than the period take weeks off. Records showing concealed payroll put the employer in the 24-month case under section 440.107(2).
4. What else is in the records. Cash payroll, check-cashing, altered certificates and identity problems are felony evidence under section 440.105 that nobody is required to volunteer. Imputation produces a number without producing that.

How to decide

Run the audit before anything leaves the building. The free calculator does the quick comparison. The penalty audit page walks the formula line by line, and the imputed payroll page covers Rule 69L-6.028, which lets an employer who took imputation produce all of the requested records within 20 business days of the first penalty calculation and have it recalculated. That window is real, but the records go into a file the Department has already built, and the 25 percent is usually gone by then.

If you want the comparison done on your actual books, with the criminal-exposure screen, that is the pre-submission records audit.