UF00083645_00009.pdf

UF00083645_00009.txt

UF00083645_00009_pdf.txt

"Your Government" -- #17 FROH: Governor's Office
by: Farris Bryant Tallahassee, Florida
dovernor of Florida

THE FLORIDA INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION

The Florida Industrial Commission is made up of three principal
divisions .- The Florida State Employment Service, the Unemployment
Compensation Division, and the Workmen'a Compensation Division.

Overall responsibility of the functions of these divisions is
the Chairman and two Commission members. The Chairman, representing
the public, is the fulltime Director of the Commission. or the other
two members, one represents industry and the other represents labor.

The State Employment Service. and the unemployment Compensation
Division, form a combination which administers what is known as the

Employment Security Program in Florida.

Florida's 35 local State Employment Service offices set an all-
time record during the twelve-month period ending June 30 this year by
Piecing Close to rlf a million people in non-farm and farm Jobs. In
lyho, the year prjvr to the establishment by this administration of
the EPEEATICN SPACd program. 20 percent fewer peeple were placed by the
serv ce.

The main objective of OPERATION SPACE is to find more Jobs for
workers by c {slaying new areas of cooperation with employers.

In order to be sure that Job seekers are well qualified for the
Jobs tho; buuLwesknon want them to fill, the Employment SerVLce
maintaiz: te;;;ng std counseling facilities. It has program? for the
employment of youx: people, older workers. and in 1963 it placed more
than 10.000 handicapped workers in Jobs.

The Industrial Commission's administration of the Florida Child
Labor Law has three obguctives. It encourages young peeple to get all
the education they possible can; and at the same time, to obtain as
much valuable nonhazardous work experience as is consistent with good
health principles.

All activities or the Florida Industrial Commission graphically
portray the phenomenal growth of Florida business and industry in
recent years. This is clearly shown in the growth of the otoer half
civih: Ehployment ocnrity program. the Unemployment Compensation
D s on.

In 1950. for instance, there were only about 12,000 firms in
Florida with enourb employees to come under the program. Today
LCPDI" ?J 0,2v0 twainessea in the State are coVerei by
U5n.l; ent Jompcnoaticn. with more than a million workers on
their payrolls.

The Unemployment Compensation Program provides the worker who
loses his Job throngh no fault of his own with something to tide him
and his family ayer until he finds a new Job. The rules are strict.
He must be available and willing to work. He must be registered for
work at a Florida State Employment Service office, and he must be
conducting a Job search on his own in order to receive Unemployment
Compensation benefit payments.

Last year more than thirteen hundred claimants were disqualified
from receipt of their benefits for periods up to one year for violatioz

of the Florida Unemployment Compensation Law. Eighty-one cases were
referred for State prosecution and two to the U.S. Department of Justic

Another broad purpose of the unemployment Compensation program
is to bolster the State and community economy during business slumps,
thus acting as an effective brake on a down-spiralling economy.

The Florida Unemployment Compensation System has been called one
of the most solvent in the fifty states. It is an insurance system
paid for by a tax on the payrolls of all employers with four or more
employees.

These employers with good employment records pay a slightly
lower tax than those whose records for steady employment of their
workers is not good. Last year $29-l/2 million was paid out of the

State Unemployment Compensation Funds o- almost $3-l/2 million less
than the year before.

The Workmen'a Compensation Division is divided into several

departments, all with the common purpose or relieving the injured
worker and his family of the cost or his injury.

Medical services and compensation for injured workers covered by
workmen's Compensation Insurance is taken out by each employer in the
State with three or more workers, 100,000 employers in all. The

Division's administration of the program is financed by a small tax
on the insurance premiums.

Two departments under the Workmen's Compensation Division;

Safety, and Rehabilitation; emphasize an important part or the
philosophy of the Division.

These many functions or the Florida Industrial Commission add

uo to a powerful bulwark to the strength of Florida's modern industry
and economy.

i§O




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