We have enjoyed our experi-ence with the new Florida Rules of Evidence that brought Florida in line with the Federal Rules of Evi-dence. Specifically, the Florida Statute Rules of Evidence Code, Section 90.702 and 90.704 were changed - effective July 1, 2013.

The Daubert Standard in Flori-da provides renewed emphasis on “the FACTS” for Vocational Evalu-ators. Secondly, the use of reliable principles and methods is now required to validate Expert testimo-ny. Third, the Vocational Expert will need to demonstrate that the principles and methods were applied to the facts of the case. Many of our colleagues have wel-comed this change.

The Daubert Standard has exist-ed in the Federal Courts since 1993. Many Vocational Experts, who practice within the Florida Workers’ Compensation System have developed skills with applica-tion of the Federal Standard in Fed-eral Personal Injury, Disability, and Discrimination Case Work.

In the last 12 months our practice has experienced several Daubert Challenges, which were overcome with evidence and facts.

In a significant Divorce Case in the 13th Judicial Circuit Court, the opposing counsel ques-tioned whether or not a method was used? Was the methodology pub-lished? Was the methodology peer reviewed? These challenges were all raised, prior to Testimony on 06/27/14. The response was to identify and reference RECAM and VRAM as the methodology.

Dr. Horace Sawyer began to develop Rehabilitation Evaluation and Case Analysis Method (RECAM) in the 1980s. He present-ed his method to the International Association of Rehabilitation Profes-sionals (IARP) in 2003. He made the method available to his students and peers for over two decades.

There are actually 20 Peer Re-viewed and Published Vocational and Rehabilitation Assessment Models. The most recently pub-lished and peer reviewed method

was developed by a graduate stu-dent of Dr. Sawyer, Rick Robinson, Ph.D., MBA, LMHC, CRC, CVE, CLCP. Dr. Robinson has lectured at the USF St. Petersburg Campus in 2013 and will present again in March of 2015. He is President-Elect of IARP National.

We have had a second chal-lenge in the 6th Judicial Circuit in a Divorce Case where the Judge sug-gested the “FACTS” were so obvi-ous it may be pointless to pursue the challenge. What facts? The La-bor Market Survey (LMS) that was submitted into evidence.

In Miami a Daubert Challenge focused on the documentation of “raw testing data” to substantiate the factual accuracy of testing re-sults. While the data was available, it was withheld from an “unqualified” reviewer, in keeping with CRC Standards. The Judge did not Order the proposed motion to submit same.

The good news? We are en-couraged to practice our craft. The

Frye Standard is now history.

Volume 7, Issue 1

Holiday Edition

December, 2014

EN G LAN D & ASS O C IAT E S

EAssociates Rehab News

‘ E x p e r i e n c e i s n o t e x p e n s i v e … . . . i t i s p r i c e l e s s ’

Office: (727) 347-0386 Web Site: http://www.breaREHAB.com E-Mail: EAssociates@TampaBay.RR.Com

Vocational Evaluations & Testimony - Post Daubert

2014 was a busy and productive year. England & Associates has continued to grow while keeping current on the changes to our field. We would like to extend our thanks to our colleagues, customers and clients for making this year memora-ble. We couldn’t do it without you!

V o l u m e 7 , I s s u e 1 P a g e 2

Vocational & Medical Rehabilitation Professionals

EAssociates - Employee Updates

Bill R. England, MS, CRC, CDMS, CCM, OWCP RCC Phyllis Rothman, RN, MS, CDMS, CCM, CLCP Daniel Giles, MA, CRC, CDMS, Vocational Evaluator Devon Willette, MA, CRC, CDMS, LMS Specialist Leah Braswell, BA, CDMS Administrative Assistant Kuala Green, AA, Administrative Assistant Amy M. Ice, MA, CRC, CDMS, Vocational Evaluator Marian England, Business Marketing Consultant Pamela Barnette, BA, MS, LMS Specialist Melody Mansour, BA, MA, CRC, Vocational Evaluator

Leah Braswell:

Leah functions as our Senior Administrative Assistant and a Vocational Case Manager. She obtained her Certified Disability Management Spe-cialist credential this fall.

This Holiday Season is the beginning of her 5th Year with England & Associates.

Leah wishes everyone a “Happy Holiday”.

Daniel Giles:

Dan Giles is acting President Elect for IARP. He obtained the CDMS credential this spring. Dan has been taking on more cases this year as the Primary Vocational Evaluator. He has now testified in court to support his Vocational Evaluations. He plans to spend the holi-days with his family and hunt-ing in Georgia.

Kuala Green:

Kuala Green joined our team as a Administrative Assistant. This Holiday Season she will begin her second year with our firm.

Kuala obtained her Associate in Art Degree from St. Peters-burg College. She plans to begin classes for her Bache-lors.

Kuala spends her free time as a football and basketball team mom for her two boys. She plans to spend the Holi-days with her family.

Amy Ice:

Amy joined the team as a Vo-cational Evaluator in April of 2013. She works within the Worker's Compensation, Family Law, Personal Injury and LTD Jurisdictions.

Amy is the Secretary for the Florida Chapter of the Interna-tional Association of Rehabilita-tion Professionals (IARP). This year, Amy obtained her Certified Disability Management Special-ist (CDMS) designation and became a DVR Certified Voca-tional / Work Evaluator.

She plans on spending the holidays with her family in Northern Florida.

Melody Mansour: Melody will graduate in De-cember 2014 from USF with her Master’s in Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counsel-ing. She has obtained the CRC credential and has be-gun conducting DVR Evalua-tions. Melody Mansour won the John A. Orphanidys Scholar-ship, including an expenses paid trip to the IARP National Conference in San Diego.

Devon Willette: Devon Willette now acts as a Labor Market Research Special-ist, performing Labor Market Surveys around the state of Florida. She earned the Certified Disa-bility Management Specialist credential this spring. Devon will be spending the holi-days cooking, cleaning and making merry with her family.

V o l u m e 7 , I s s u e 1 P a g e 3

2014: Professional Accomplishments

England & Associates has participated in Professional Seminars, Conferences and provided Lectur-ers at the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa from January through December of 2014. We have dis-covered in practice that we can learn more through participation. We are challenged as presenters. Working with Rehabilitation Program Graduate Students challenges our Evaluators and Rehabilitation Counselors.

Daniel R. Giles, MA, CRC, and Amy M. Ice, MA, CRC, have served as USF Guest Lecturers this year. Specifically, they have presented each Semester at the Graduate Course for Life Styles and Assessment. Daniel R. Giles, MA, CRC, has presented as a Guest Lecturer in a Graduate Course presenting a variety of Rehabilitation Counselor Career Paths for Graduate Students. Of course, we like to encourage Graduate Students to consider a career in the private sector, specifically in one of our offices! In the interest of full-disclosure, it should be noted that four (4) of our Vocational Evaluators are in-fact Graduates from USF with the Master of Rehabilitation & Mental Health Counseling Degree.

Our firm recently volunteered at the annual SW District of IARP seminar: Returning to Work: Chal-lenges / Solutions, at the USF St. Petersburg Campus on 03/28/14. When we decided to take a group photo

of our employees and IARP Members, we had one additional member, Dr. Tennyson Wright, Chair of the USF Program for Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling, who has spon-sored interns in our office for the last 8 years. We are a qualified site for the required 600 hour Internship.

As Board Members of the SW District of IARP, Treasurer, Leah Braswell and Bill England are actively planning the 2015 Annual SW District Seminar: Florida Rehabilitation Trends on the Horizon. The all day seminar will include 6.0 hours of CEUs. Presentations will include: Dr.

J.R. Harding on ADA Access, Dr. Rick Robinson on Vocational Evaluations using VRAM under Daubert, WC Physician’s Panel moderated by Jeffrey Carlisle, CRC, CDMS, update on the 2015 Legislative Session by Fausto Gomez and Dr. Shahnasarian’s presentation of ECAF-2 Assessment of Earning Capacity. You may want to register for the 03/06/15 SW District of IARP Seminar to hear all of these great speakers!

This year the Florida Bar WC Forum invited Bill R. England, MS, CRC, to present the Vocational Ex-perts Panel for the 5th year. Specifically, the program Trial Practice: Use of Vocational Experts was present-ed on 04/10/14. Panel Members included Workers’ Compensation Attorneys, Robert Grace and Jeffrey Appel. The Vocational Experts included: Dr. David Patten, Gil Spruance, CRC, CVE and Steven R. Cooley, CRC, CVE. The Florida Bar WC Forum Committee recently approved a future presentation for the 6th year running on 04/09/15. Panel Members will include: Robert Grace, Jeffrey Appel, Gil Spruance and Bill England.

Daniel R. Giles, MA, CRC, is the current President of the Florida Chapter of IARP. Amy M. Ice, MA, CRC, is the Board Secretary. They attended the Annual WCI Conference in August 2014 to manage the Flori-da IARP professional booth and participate with our lobbyist in the Legislative Committee Meeting on 08/19/14. The IARP Membership Reception on 08/18/14 was sponsored this year by England & Associates.

The John A. Orphanidys Scholarship was developed by a Committee of IARP Members, including: Tony Imperiale, Jeanna Orphanidys, Katie Orphanidys, Rick Robinson and Bill England. This year there were five (5) scholarship recipients, including USF Graduate Student, Melody Mansour, who was granted an expens-es paid trip to the IARP National Conference in San Diego, California. She was accompanied to the IARP Na-tional Conference by Bill England, who joined Rick Robinson in making the award presentation.

We have developed our own educational program titled Vocational Evaluations - Private Sector. The program was qualified for 12 months with Adjuster, Attorney, RN, CRC, CCM and CDMS CEUs. We are scheduling selected site presentations for 2015, beginning with CMSA Tampa Bay’s meeting on 01/08/15.

England & Associates Offices are lo-cated in the Cities of St. Petersburg. Palmetto and Tampa. We serve the en-tire State and provide out-of-state case services upon request.

man, RN, MS, CDMS, CCM, CLCP, is an experienced Medical Case Manag-er, who will expedite return to work for Clients. She prepares Job Descriptions, Medi-cal review, Job Analysis Review, Work Releases, and documentation of Func-tional Capacity. Preliminary Reemployment Services and Labor Market Survey Research provide a picture of current statistical information, Client Based and geo-graphically specific Labor Markets. Vocational Evaluators may provide a Preliminary Vocational Evaluation with review of Depositions, Medical, and employment records. Life Care Plans are prepared by our Nurse Case Manager, for case work in multiple venues. Labor Market Surveys can be con-ducted for plan development and dur-ing reemployment services. Job open-ings are evaluated for client suitability on an individual basis.

Rehabilitation Services are provid-ed by our Vocational and Medical Case Managers. Our professional staff includes: Certified Rehabilita-tion Counselors (CRCs), Certified Disability Management Specialists Labor Market Survey Specialists and Nurse Case Manager. We provide services in both the Public and Private sectors. We can provide long-term services or limited task assignments, upon request. Rehabilitation Service Venues include: Florida Workers’ Compen-sation, Family Law, Auto Injury, Per-sonal Injury, Jones Act, Longshore & Harbor Workers Act, Employee Dis-crimination and ADA Case Work. Testimony has been provided in State District Courts and Federal Court. Medical Case Management Ser-vices are provided within all venues. Nurse Case Manager Phyllis Roth-

England & Associates - Rehabilitation Services

England & Associates 3901 66th Street North, Suite 101 St. Petersburg, Florida 33709

Phone: (727) 347-0386 Fax: (727) 345-6126 E-mail: EAssociates@TampaBay.rr.com

See our Web Site for Referral Forms - http://www.breaREHAB.com

Season’s Greetings