ERVIN, J.

We are asked to address six issues in this workers' compensation case. The City of Hollywood and Interrisk Concepts, the employer and its servicing agent (E/SA), assert that the judge of compensation claims (JCC) abused her discretion as follows: (1) in awarding penalties and interest on benefits totaling $8,478.75 that were paid on May 12, 1995; (2) in compelling the E/SA to take its 25 percent reduction for the subrogation lien before the application of the 100 percent average weekly wage (AWW) cap authorized by section 440.20(15), Florida Statutes (1993), and Escambia County Sheriff's Dep't v. Grice, 692 So.2d 896 (Fla. 1997); (3) by failing to award the E/SA a credit for overpayment arising from the 100 percent AWW cap and resultant offsets; and (4) by awarding costs and attorney's fees to claimant. In his cross-appeal, claimant Albert Lombardi contends that the JCC erred as a matter of law (1) in capping the amount recoverable under the subrogation lien at $62,671, which was the total amount of claimant's recovery; and (2) in allowing the E/SA to apply the AWW cap so as to reduce workers' compensation payments rather than disability retirement pension benefits. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the first three issues urged by the E/SA, decline to reach its fourth issue, and reverse those raised by claimant.

The facts in this case are not in dispute. Lombardi, who is currently 73 years of age, began working for the City as a building inspector in 1986. On September 14, 1993, he suffered a compensable shoulder injury when he slipped and fell while walking on a ramp at a home he was inspecting. Treatment complications occurred and Lombardi was determined to be permanently and totally disabled as of December 19, 1994.

Lombardi's AWW was $783.65, yielding a compensation rate of $425. Instead of compensation benefits, Lombardi began receiving benefits in January 1995 from the City's disability retirement pension plan in the amount of $2,623.37 per month. Lombardi contributed $113 from his salary on a bimonthy basis to the pension plan. On May 12 and 15, 1995, claimant received checks from the E/SA as payment for permanent, total disability (PTD) benefits and supplemental benefits relating back to December 19, 1994. Payment of PTD benefits continued, based on the $425 compensation rate, until September 17, 1995, when the E/SA began reducing the amount by 25 percent due to its subrogation lien, which is discussed below. No supplemental benefits were paid after May 15, 1995.

Although Lombardi obtained indemnity and medical benefits from the E/SA, he also elected to file a negligence complaint in circuit court, as authorized by section 440.39(1), Florida Statutes (1993), against the homeowners of the property where he was injured. Under section 440.39(2), the E/SA then became subrogated to Lombardi's rights against the homeowners to the extent of the amount of compensation benefits paid and to be paid. The appropriate notice was filed by the E/SA under section 440.39(3), establishing a lien on Lombardi's claim. He and the homeowners eventually reached an out-of-court settlement for $100,000, which was the limit of their insurance policy coverage.

Thereafter, the E/SA moved for equitable distribution of the settlement funds in circuit court, seeking payment of its lien. At the time of the May 5, 1995, motion hearing, the E/SA had paid $41,228.76 in compensation benefits to claimant. Expert testimony was taken, and the circuit court found that claimant's total damages, after reduction of the amount for which Lombardi was comparatively negligent, were $250,000. Following the deduction of attorney's fees and costs incurred in the action ($37,329) from the $100,000 sum, Lombardi's net recovery was $62,671. The circuit court judge determined, after considering section 440.39(3), that the $62,671 Lombardi received was 25 percent of his total damages; therefore, the E/SA was entitled to the same percentage of reimbursement. In an order dated October 30, 1995, the court directed Lombardi to pay the E/SA $10,307.19, which is 25 percent of the $41,228.76 already paid to him, and it authorized the E/SA a reduction of future indemnity and medical payments by 25 percent in further payment of the lien.

After it had begun its reduction, the E/SA notified claimant by letter dated October 24, 1997, of its intention to assert an offset under section 440.20(15), Florida Statutes (1993), and Escambia County Sheriff's Dep't v. Grice, 672 So.2d 896 (Fla. 1997), based on benefits paid exceeding 100 percent of Lombardi's AWW, and sought reimbursement for overpayments.

Claimant raised the following claims at the workers' compensation hearing of December 2, 1997: (1) penalties and interest in connection with the compensation checks issued in May 1995, as they represented PTD and supplemental benefits dating back to December 19, 1994; (2) supplemental benefits from May 15, 1995, the date when the E/SA stopped paying them; and (3) the full amount of PTD benefits from September 17, 1995, or, alternatively, September 8, 1996, based upon his contention that the subrogation lien was paid in full as of those dates.

The JCC's order directed the E/SA to pay penalties and interest on the May 1995 payments and supplemental benefits from May 15, 1995, without any offset for disability pension or social security retirement, together with interest. It also allowed the E/SA to continue its 25 percent lien reduction until $62,671 in benefits were fully recovered, and, finally, it specified that future benefits were to be paid with an offset for the combination of workers' compensation and disability pension benefits in accordance with Grice, but the offset was not to be taken until after the 25 percent lien reduction was first calculated.

Turning to the issues raised by the E/SA on appeal, we affirm the first, regarding the award of penalties and interest on the May 1995 payments. Sections 440.20(7) and (9), Florida Statutes (1993), provide for the award of penalties and interest on any installment of compensation not paid within 14 days from the date when it is due. Because the payments made by the E/SA on May 12, 1995, related to benefits due as of December 19, 1994, it cannot be said that the JCC abused her discretion in awarding penalties and interest on the late payments. In so saying, we reject the E/SA's argument that it, in effect, overpaid Lombardi during this particular period based on its 25 percent lien reduction. The order granting the lien reduction was not entered until October 30, 1995; therefore, no overpayment of benefits existed in May 1995.

The E/SA's second issue concerns the order in which the 25 percent lien reduction and the 100 percent AWW cap and resultant offset are applied. The JCC found that the lien recovery should be calculated first, and then the workers' compensation/disability pension offset should be applied. We find no abuse of discretion in this ruling and therefore affirm.

Case law which has fleshed out the 100 percent AWW cap and resultant offset illustrates that the emphasis is on preventing the employer from being forced to provide the claimant with total benefits from workers' compensation and other collateral sources in excess of 100 percent of the claimant's AWW. See Grice; Barragan v. City of Miami, 545 So.2d 252 (Fla. 1989); Domutz v. Southern Bell Tel. Tel. Co., 339 So.2d 636 (Fla. 1976); Brown v. S.S. Kresge Co., 305 So.2d 191 (Fla. 1974). Because the total sum to be paid by the employer in benefits could not be determined until after the 25 percent lien reduction was applied, it was not unreasonable for the JCC to determine that the lien reduction should be allowed before the AWW cap and resultant offset. Nevertheless, because this is an issue of first impression, we certify the following question to the Florida Supreme Court as one of great public importance:

WHEN AN EMPLOYER/CARRIER IS ENTITLED TO REDUCE A CLAIMANT'S COMPENSATION BENEFITS AS A RESULT OF A SUBROGATION LIEN UNDER SECTION 440.39, FLORIDA STATUTES, SHOULD THE EMPLOYER/CARRIER APPLY THE LIEN REDUCTION BEFORE OR AFTER CALCULATING TOTAL BENEFITS AND APPLYING THE 100 PERCENT AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGE CAP AND RESULTANT OFFSET AUTHORIZED BY SECTION 440.20(15), FLORIDA STATUTES, AND ESCAMBIA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEP'T v. GRICE, 692 So.2d 896 (Fla. 1997)?

Under the third issue, the E/SA complains that the JCC abused her discretion by failing to allow it a credit for overpayments by virtue of the AWW cap and resultant offset for periods after December 19, 1994. The JCC ruled that future benefits were to be paid pursuant to the dictates of Grice, and that any previous offsets that could have been taken were administratively waived. We find no abuse of discretion in this ruling.

In affirming this point, we are aware of the provisions of section 440.15(13), Florida Statutes (Supp. 1994), making an employee liable for any overpayments of indemnity benefits and allowing the employer/carrier to recover the overpayments by reducing compensation payments by 20 percent. See alsoBrown v. L.P. Sanitation, 689 So.2d 332 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997), wherein an employer/carrier was permitted to reduce compensation benefits to recover an overpayment caused by the employer/carrier's failure to apply the social security disability offset back to January 1, 1994, the effective date of section 440.15(13).

Nevertheless, we note that the E/SA is specifically claiming the overpayments based on Grice, an argument suggesting that Grice interpreted section 440.20(15) in a manner contrary to existing law. Because the effect of this new application is to reduce claimant's benefits, we decline to apply it retroactively to December 19, 1994. Compare City of Miami v. Bell, 634 So.2d 163 (Fla. 1994) (refusing to apply ruling in Barragan v. City of Miami, 545 So.2d 252 (Fla. 1989), retroactively to require City of Miami to repay offsets that were improperly taken from the claimants' pensions).

We decline to consider the E/SA's fourth issue regarding entitlement to attorney's fees and costs, because the issue is not ripe for appeal based on the JCC's reservation of jurisdiction to determine amount. See North River Ins. Co. v. Wuelling, 674 So.2d 881 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996) (on motion to dismiss); Commercial Carrier Corp. v. LaPointe, 723 So.2d 912, 914 n. 1 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999).

Turning next to the issues raised on cross-appeal, Lombardi first argues that the JCC erred in interpreting section 440.39, Florida Statutes (1993), by allowing the E/SA to recover the entire amount of his $62,671 net recovery for its subrogation lien. Claimant explains that because he received only 25 percent of his total damages ($250,000) in the settlement, the E/SA's lien should be restricted or capped at 25 percent of the net recovery ($62,671), or $15,667.75. Thus, Lombardi argues that the E/SA should receive a percentage of the percentage of the total damages. The E/SA maintains, however, that section 440.39 allows no such percentage restriction or cap. Rather, it should receive the same percentage of total damages as claimant received.

In support of their contrary positions, the parties rely on the same language in section 440.39(3)(a), which states as follows:

[I]f the employee . . . can demonstrate to the court that he did not recover the full value of damages sustained, the employer or carrier shall recover from the judgment or settlement, after costs and attorney's fees incurred by the employee . . . in that suit have been deducted, a percentage of what it has paid and future benefits to be paid equal to the percentage that the employee's net recovery is of the full value of the employee's damages.

(Emphasis added.)

We agree with claimant that the above emphasized language provides that the E/SA, under circumstances such as those at bar, should receive a percentage of the percentage recovered. In reaching this conclusion, we have considered Nikula v. Michigan Mutual Insurance, 531 So.2d 330 (Fla. 1988), and Manfredo v. Employer's Casualty Insurance Co., 560 So.2d 1162 (Fla. 1990). Admittedly, both of these cases dealt with earlier versions of section 440.39(3), but our review of the statute's history implies that the version in effect in 1993, when claimant's accident occurred, was a result of the discussion in Nikula. The 1981 statute at issue inNikula merely provided that the employer/carrier would receive 100 percent of what it had paid unless the employee demonstrated that he or she did not recover the full value of damages sustained. See Nikula, 531 So.2d at 331 (quoting § 440.39(3), Fla. Stat. (1981)). The facts involved full damages of $15,000,000, a finding of 90 percent comparative negligence by the claimant, and a settlement of $3,600,000. The district court of appeal had determined that the employer/carrier's lien should have been 24 percent of the benefits, because the claimant recovered only 24 percent of the full damages and this finding was affirmed. The same formula was employed in Manfredo, which involved the 1983 statute. The underlined language in the 1993 statute was added in 1989, just one year after Nikula established the ratio formula. See Ch. 89-289, § 20, at 1771, Laws of Fla. Thus, it appears that the statutory language at issue was a codification of the formula set out in Nikula and repeated in Manfredo.

The circuit court properly applied the percentage formula in determining the E/SA's lien in this case. The court decided that claimant received 25 percent of his full damages; therefore, the E/SA's lien should be 25 percent. The JCC erred, however, in not capping the lien at 25 percent of the $62,671 net recovery, or $15,667.15. Although neither Nikula norManfredo address this precise issue, Nikula states that the "lienholder should be reimbursed in the same ratio as the injured worker" and that the "lien shall be based upon the ratio of settlement amount to full value of damages."Id. at 332, 330. This language, when considered in pari materia with section 440.39(3), supports the claimant's interpretation of the statute as capping or limiting the lien to a percentage of the percentage recovered.

Were we to conclude otherwise and adopt the E/SA's interpretation of the statute, the E/SA would be entitled to recover all that Lombardi received in the civil action, which would necessarily include damages for pain and suffering and loss of consortium. Those are damages claimant obtained in his action over and above economic and medical damages to which the E/SA is entitled. We cannot believe the legislature intended such a result in enacting section 440.39(3)(a). The order is therefore reversed to the extent it allows the E/SA to recover the full amount of claimant's net recovery of $62,671. Rather, the lien is limited to 25 percent of the net recovery, or $15,667.75, and the E/SA should be directed on remand to repay any amounts deducted as a result of its lien in excess of $15,667.75, taking the initial $10,307.19 payment into account. Nevertheless, because this too is an issue of first impression, we certify the following question to the Florida Supreme Court as one of great public importance:

WHEN THE EMPLOYER/CARRIER IS ENTITLED TO A SUBROGATION LIEN UNDER SECTION 440.39, FLORIDA STATUTES (1993), AND THE CLAIMANT'S NET RECOVERY IN A SETTLEMENT WITH THE THIRD-PARTY TORTFEASOR IS LESS THAN 100 PERCENT OF THE CLAIMANT'S TOTAL DAMAGES, SHOULD THE EMPLOYER/CARRIER'S LIEN BE LIMITED TO A PERCENTAGE OF THE PERCENTAGE OF THE NET RECOVERY?

In his final point on cross-appeal, claimant argues that the JCC erred as a matter of law in allowing the E/SA to offset his workers' compensation payments, rather than applying the offset to his disability retirement pension benefits. Lombardi's argument is based on Barragan v. City of Miami, 545 So.2d 252 (Fla. 1989), involving an employment contract that allowed the City of Miami to reduce disability pension benefits by the amount of workers' compensation paid. Thus, the City was required to pay the full amount of workers' compensation and could reduce pension benefits only to the extent the combination of all benefits exceeded the claimant's AWW. Claimant refers to that type of situation as a "Barragan offset," and he argues that Barragan offsets apply when the collateral benefits involved include ones to which the employee contributed, as here.

In contrasting the result in Barragan withGrice, which involved PTD, state disability retirement, and social security disability benefits, we note that none of the benefits in Grice were produced from a fund maintained by the employer for payment of workers' compensation benefits. In Grice, the employer was permitted to reduce the amount of workers' compensation benefits by the amount that the total of all the benefits paid exceeded claimant's AWW. Claimant refers to this situation as a "Grice offset."

We are not convinced that the Florida Supreme Court intended to create two different types of offsets, allowing employer/carriers to reduce different benefits based on the contributors to the particular funds. In Barragan, the pension reduction was a matter of contract between the employer and employee. In Grice, the only funds within the employer's control that could be reduced were workers' compensation benefits, since the state of Florida paid the disability retirement and the federal government paid the social security disability. Moreover, the employer in Grice was entitled to a social security disability offset under section 440.15(9), Florida Statutes (1985), which specifically allows a reduction of workers' compensation payments by the amount of social security disability paid.

In the instant case, Lombardi does not receive social security disability benefits; therefore, the E/SA is not entitled to the offset authorized in section 440.15(10), Florida Statutes (1993). He does receive social security retirement, but this court has previously held that such benefits are not subject to an offset. See Dixon v. Pasadena Yacht Country Club, 731 So.2d 141 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999). UnlikeBarragan, there is no evidence at bar of a contractual term allowing the reduction of claimant's disability pension by the amount of workers' compensation paid. Thus, it appears that, as in Grice, workers' compensation benefits are the only funds which may be reduced by the E/SA once total benefits exceed AWW.

Nevertheless, we are cognizant of section 440.21(1), Florida Statutes (1993), which prohibits "[a]ny agreement by an employee . . . to contribute to a benefit fund or department maintained by such employer for the purpose of providing compensation or medical services and supplies as required by this chapter." Thus, if workers' compensation benefits are reduced based on disability pension benefits claimant received, and to which claimant contributed, such reduction in compensation may be violative of section 440.21. Under the circumstances, we reverse and remand with instructions to determine whether claimant's disability pension has a provision comparable to that in Barragan. If such a provision exists, we direct the E/SA to pay full workers' compensation benefits and to apply any offset arising from the AWW cap, as provided in section 440.20(15) and Grice, to Lombardi's disability retirement pension benefits. If, on the other hand, no such provision exists, then we direct the JCC to consider section 440.21(1) and claimant's pro rata contributions to the disability retirement plan in determining any offset to workers' compensation benefits.

AFFIRMED in part, REVERSED in part, and REMANDED for further consistent proceedings.

WEBSTER, J., CONCURS.

BENTON, J., CONCURS IN PART AND DISSENTS IN PART WITH OPINION.