What Compensation is Available after a Workplace Injury in Texas?
The compensation available in Texas for a workplace injury depends upon several factors. Is there workers’ comp? Or was a third party involved? Was the employer without comp coverage somehow negligent? Were you an employee or an independent contractor? Understanding the damages for workplace injuries in Texas requires considering all these factors.
Duties of the Employer
In Texas, the employer has a general duty to provide a safe working environment for its employees, including proper equipment, proper training, and sufficient personnel for the job. Texas has some of the most hazardous jobs in the country.
Many employers in Texas provide workers’ compensation insurance to pay medical bills and lost wages for injured employees. These employers are called “subscribers.” The difference between workers’ comp and a personal injury case depends on the facts and the workers’ comp coverage.
What is a Nonsubscriber?
Other employers may choose not to provide workers’ compensation insurance for their employees. These employers are called “non-subscribers.”
Generally, suppose an employee is injured on the job, and the company carries workers’ compensation insurance (subscriber).
In that case, the employee’s remedies against the company for the injury will be limited to workers’ compensation benefits.
Workers’ compensation is good for paying medical bills, but inadequate for human damages like pain and suffering.
Employers Without Workers’ Compensation are at Risk
A Texas employer who is a nonsubscriber to the workers’ compensation program assumes the risk that an employee will be hurt on the job. The employee will have a legal right to pursue the employer in court for the employer’s negligence in causing the injury and damages. Often, an employer seeks to claim that an employee was an independent contractor.
Ability to Collect in Some Nonsubscriber Cases
Sometimes, having the right to pursue the employer and collect from the employer for a very serious injury can be two different things, as very seldom are on-the-job injuries caused by the employer covered by insurance other than workers’ compensation. If you have been hurt on the job and your employer does not carry workers’ compensation, reach out to a work injury lawyer.
What are Third-Party Claims in Texas?
One factor that should be considered when analyzing a serious workplace injury is the potential for a “third-party claim”. A third-party claim can arise when a workplace injury is caused by the fault of a party other than the employer or its employees.
Examples include a construction site accident caused by another contractor or company, or a situation in which a dangerous product caused the injury.
In effect, third-party claims involve other companies sharing responsibility for causing the victim’s injuries or damages. An attorney might also seek punitive damages if a defendant’s reckless conduct.
Two Vital Questions
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Is there Workers Comp?
Identifying Potential Third Parties
Many construction accidents involve numerous contractors and entities that actually control the work being done at the time, and the worksite is an important factor in the legal analysis after an on-the-job injury.
Getting a skilled construction accident lawyer in Houston after a serious injury is essential.
About OSHA and Texas Accidents
OSHA frequently investigates very serious injuries or fatalities that occur on the job. Unfortunately, OSHA generally allows companies guilty of safety violations that led to an accident to enter into a plea agreement, which is inadmissible in a civil case.
While this is a great disservice to the personal injury victim or a victim’s family, it is probably necessary given the inadequate funding that has been a longtime problem of OSHA.
Worker safety should be a priority for all employers and the entities that regulate safety in Texas. We all know of the terrible, tragic explosion in West Texas, and the failures of the authorities in Texas to regulate unsafe conduct have become clear in that case.
Many political leaders routinely cite bumper sticker slogans such as “excessive regulation” and are the first to decry situations that make the news. The hypocrisy of the anti-regulation crowd is a sad statement about our selection of political leaders.
Personal injury attorneys know the devastation many face after a severe injury accident.
Call a Top-Rated Houston Construction Accident Attorney
The Houston construction accident lawyers at Baumgartner Law Firm have represented construction accident victims in Harris County, Texas, for over three decades. Our track record of success in construction accident cases is incredible. We have numerous multi-million dollar wins. Let our next victory be yours.
Baumgartner Law Firm
6711 Cypress Creek Pkwy, Houston, TX, 77069
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