A two-day sweep by investigators with the Department of Financial Services' Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC) Bureau of Compliance, shut down 70 employers for violations of Florida's workers' compensation laws.

According to a media release from the office of CFO Alex Sink, investigators contacted more than 888 employers, visited 435 work sites, and issued 70 Stop-Work Orders (SWO's) to construction and non-construction businesses, including general contractors, subcontractors, restaurants, and medical centers, for violating the state's workers' compensation coverage requirements.

An employer who receives a SWO must immediately cease all operations. The SWO remains in effect until the employer obtains proper coverage and pays the assessed penalty. SWO's are issued for violations including failure to obtain workers' compensation coverage, under-reporting payroll (such as paying employees in cash instead of payroll checks), and misclassifying employees in order to receive a lower workers' compensation rate. More than 360 liens have been filed against delinquent employers since late 2009, totaling $13.7 million.