Mandatory Telephonic Mediation Until July 31, 2020

The Florida Office of Judges of Compensation Claims previously mandated telephonic mediation beginning March 14, 2020. That mandated expired May 31, 2020 and June has demonstrated some return to normalcy, but also a marked public desire for telephonic attendance. Without such a mandate, the parties to cases have been appropriately seeking permission for telephonic appearance on a case-by-case basis. That effort is demonstrably straining the workload of both practitioners and state mediators. To attempt to alleviate some level of stress, the OJCC is now mandating all state mediation to be telephonic beginning July 1, 2020 through July 31, 2020. During that time, there is no need for any party to seek permission to attend state mediation telephonically.