Hurt on the job? Here’s what to do!

What are my rights when I get hurt on the job?

If you’re injured on the job, like a lot of people you probably assume that your employer is going to help you pay for things like medical bills, physical therapy expenses, and lost wages that result from that on-the-job injury. Unfortunately, if the company doesn’t carry workers’ compensation coverage, this isn’t always the case.

That’s because in Texas, the law doesn’t require all private employers to carry this kind of insurance. That can leave employees who are injured at work on the hook for expenses like those we just mentioned. It means they could be missing out on possible compensation for past and future economic losses, as well as things like benefits for dependents of workers killed on the job.

While most companies do choose to offer these kinds of protections to their workers, many – including some major national and international corporations – choose to forego this coverage. The Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) estimates that around 28% of private, full-time employers (employing nearly 18% of the private workforce in Texas) do not subscribe to the workers’ compensation system, these businesses are referred to as “non-subscribers”.

Some of the largest and most recognizable companies in Texas are non-subscribers. Go to the Texas Department of Insurance website to learn what Texas Corporations are non-subscribers!

Click Here! : https://www.tdi.texas.gov/wc/employer/coverage.html

3 key rights for employees of businesses without workers compensation insurance to remember :
If you work for a business that doesn’t have workers’ compensation coverage and you’re injured on the job, we want you to understand that you do have legal rights.

Please be aware, these non-subscriber employers may pressure injured workers into accepting a settlement, making statements, and/or taking other actions that can ultimately make it harder to file (or win) a claim later on.

Here are the three most important rights for employees of non-subscribers to keep in mind:

Even if the employer pays for some or all medical expenses or lost wages stemming from an injury, employees are still entitled to pursue a remedy through a personal injury claim.
Employees do not have to give a statement about the incident without speaking to an attorney first.
Employees do not have to sign any paperwork relating to the incident or give anyone access to their medical records without speaking to an attorney first.

How does the remedy process work when an employer has workers’ compensation?

If you’re injured at work and your employer has workers’ compensation insurance, the next steps are fairly straightforward. The workers’ compensation insurer is responsible for paying for all necessary, reasonable medical treatments and co-payments for required care. They also typically cover a percentage of lost wages.

Besides acting as a safety net for employees, there are other major reasons companies choose to offer workers’ compensation insurance. First, if an employee is injured at work, the workers’ compensation system is then wholly responsible for all financial remedies. In other words, the workers’ compensation system is the injured worker’s sole remedy.

In return, the business is protected from costly lawsuits on the part of injured parties and their families. There are a few exceptions, including situations where gross negligence on the part of the employer led to the death of the employee, but for the most part employers are shielded from any litigation as a result of the incident.

What are your rights when your employer doesn’t have workers’ compensation coverage?

When an employer doesn’t carry workers’ compensation insurance, the process can get a little more complicated. In this case, an injured employee has the right to sue the business for damages related to their injury, including past and future medical expenses, pain, mental anguish, disfigurement, physical impairment, and loss of earning capacity, but also for punitive damages and other penalties.

Importantly, not only are employers who choose not to provide worker’s compensation insurance vulnerable to lawsuits, they’re also barred from using certain arguments in their defense. Employers lose what are known as “common law defenses.”

For example, the employer can’t claim that negligence on the part of the injured employee (or a fellow employee) caused the injury, or that the injured employee knew about the danger and voluntarily accepted it.

Why filing a personal injury lawsuit can be beneficial :

While the process of filing a personal injury claim can seem arduous and time consuming, there are actually some benefits with it compared to filing a workers’ compensation claim.

The main benefit is that you can seek compensation for the full amount of your damages, whereas with a workers’ compensation claim the amount you’ll get is capped by law. This means that all of the medical, psychological, and rehabilitation costs associated with the injury will be paid in full, as opposed to the typical two-thirds compensation you can expect from workers’ comp claim.

Another major benefit of a filing a lawsuit is that you can also seek compensation for more than just reimbursement for medical bills, lost wages, etc. This includes things like emotional pain and mental anguish, physical impairment, and disfigurement stemming from the injury, as well as punitive damages for any gross negligence on the part of the employer which might have contributed to the incident. These options simply aren’t allowed when you file a workers’ comp case because the workers’ compensation system operates on a no-fault system.

What should you do if you’re injured at work?

If you work for a company that doesn’t offer workers’ compensation insurance, knowing what steps to take after a work-related injury is critical. There are a few simple steps you can take to ensure the best chance of success if you decide to pursue a personal injury lawsuit against your employer.

Make sure to do the following:

Get prompt medical attention and document any and all injuries and make sure your doctor notes them in your medical records. Failing to disclose all injuries and/or their extent could weaken your case later on.
Contact an experienced personal injury lawyer as soon as possible. They will have the resources and contacts to make sure you get the best possible care, and the sooner they start building your case, the better your chances of a positive outcome.
Take pictures and/or videos of the scene of the accident where you were hurt. Also, make sure you get the names and contact information of any witnesses to the incident.
Make sure to go to all follow-up medical, psychological, and/or rehabilitation appointments and adhere to any instructions they give you related to your care.

Proving negligence in on the job injury cases :

In order to win damages, you need to show that your employer’s negligence caused your injury. The primary way to establish this is by showing that the company did not maintain a safe workplace.

Examples of ways employers fail to maintain a safe workplace include:

Failing to provide employees with adequate warning of dangerous conditions
Failing to properly train employees
Failing to hire or assign enough employees to a specific task
Failing to provide employees with safe equipment (tools, machinery, vehicles, etc.)

When you consult a personal injury law office like GreeningLaw, P.C., we not only help you go over the facts and circumstances surrounding your injury to make the best possible case, we also hire safety experts who will testify to what the company should have done to help prevent the accident.

We want to help employees injured at work when their employer doesn’t have worker’s compensation insurance.

If you’ve been injured on the job and your employer doesn’t carry workers’ compensation insurance, figuring out what you need to do next and determining what steps you can take to protect your best interests can seem overwhelming.

That’s why your first call needs to be to an experienced personal injury law office like GreeningLaw, P.C. so we can help you start building your case and make sure everything is filed correctly and in the proper legal timeframe.

Our law firm is one of the most recognized personal injury firms in the state because we have the resources to help our clients get the best care available and the experts needed to ensure the best compensation for their case. In addition, our lawyers treat each case with the same care and attention to detail as they would if they were representing their own family.

Contact us today to schedule a free consultation. In it, we’ll go over all the elements of your case, and make recommendations on your best course of action. Plus, we work on a contingency basis, so you don’t owe us anything unless we win your case.

We fight the legal battle so you have time for healing and renewal, and we’ll get you through this.

What Exactly is an “On-the-Job” Injury Under Texas Workers’ Comp. Law?

A serious injury can keep you from working for a long time, leaving you without a paycheck while also leaving you with a growing pile of medical bills and other expenses. When the injury that is keeping you off the job happened on the job, Texas’ workers’ compensation system can provide you with benefits and resources that can help get you back on your feet and back to work. While workers comp benefits won’t cover everything, they can give you the help you need without having to go through the lengthy and uncertain process of a civil personal injury lawsuit.

But the companies that provide workers’ compensation insurance to Texas employers can and often do challenge an injured worker’s right to receive benefits. One way they do that is by claiming that the injury was not “work-related” and therefore not covered by workers’ comp.

It’s not always so clear whether or not an injury was “work-related.” Our jobs can take us away from our desks or out of the factory or warehouse; we may be visiting a customer, driving on company business, or attending a firm social event. If you’re injured while engaging in these kinds of activities, are you entitled to benefits under Texas’ workers’ compensation law?

“In the Course and Scope of Employment…”

Under the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act, a “compensable injury” that can qualify for benefits means “an injury that arises out of and in the course and scope of employment…” (Texas Labor Code Sec. 401.011(10)).

The Act defines “course and scope of employment” as:

“an activity of any kind or character that has to do with and originates in the work, business, trade, or profession of the employer and that is performed by an employee while engaged in or about the furtherance of the affairs or business of the employer. The term includes an activity conducted on the premises of the employer or at other locations”

Texas Labor Code Sec. 401.011(10)

Are Injuries Suffered While Commuting Covered?

While this definition explicitly includes injuries that occur pretty much anywhere you are doing your job, the statute also specifically excludes injuries that happen on the way to or from work. If you are injured while commuting on the way to work or on the way home, your injuries will not be covered, unless:

the transportation that gets you to or from work is furnished as a part of the contract of employment or is paid for by the employer;
the means of the transportation are under the control of the employer; or
you are directed by your employer to proceed from one place to another place (other than to and from home).

Also excluded from coverage are injuries that happen during “dual purpose” travel, that is, “travel by the employee in the furtherance of the affairs or business of the employer if the travel is also in furtherance of personal or private affairs of the employee.”

However, if the travel to the place of occurrence of the injury would have been made even had there been no personal or private affairs of the employee to be furthered by the travel and the travel would not have been made had there been no affairs or business of the employer to be furthered by the travel, those injuries can qualify for workers’ compensation benefits.

Whether a work injury was in fact a work injury is just one of the many issues that arise out of on-the-job accidents. Even if your injury is compensable under Texas’ workers’ compensation law, you still may be entitled to seek damages from third-parties other than your employer if their negligence contributed to or caused your injuries.

Dallas personal injury lawyer Robert Greening has been defending the rights of injured Texas workers for decades and has helped many victims injured or killed by unsafe working conditions receive compensation for themselves and/or their families. If you’ve suffered an on-the-job injury, please give Greening Law, P.C. a call at (972) 934-8900 or fill out our online form to arrange for your free initial consultation.

Former Employee Files $1 Million Injury Lawsuit

Employers have a number of responsibilities toward their employees. In particular, employers must ensure that workers have the training and the resources they need to conduct their work in safety. Failing to do this can lead to an employee injury, and, by extension, a possible workers’ compensation or personal injury lawsuit.

A Texas woman recently sued her former employer for negligence, stating that the company failed to provide a safe work environment for her. The employee, a worker at a La Quinta hotel in Port Arthur, injured her finger, arm and shoulder while attempting to move an air conditioner unassisted. This injury made it more difficult for her to perform her work duties, which led to a chain of anxiety and missed work that ultimately resulted in her termination.

Termination is no minor consequence for an employee. Not only does the terminated employee lose his or her entire income, he or she will also find it more difficult to find employment elsewhere. This is because many employers think twice about hiring a worker who was previously fired for alleged misconduct.

The woman now seeks compensation for her losses through legal action. She has filed a lawsuit against her former employer, claiming the company failed to provide adequate supervision or assistance, failed to provide a safe work environment, and failed to provide proper training. She claims damages in the form of lost wages, loss of earning capacity, pain and suffering, medical bills and disfigurement. She seeks punitive damages in excess of $1 million.

Punitive damages in this amount serve not only to compensate the injured worker, but also to send a message to the employer that negligent operations and unsafe workplaces will not be tolerated. In this way, lawsuits serve not only to ensure that injured victims can pay for their medical bills and ongoing expenses, but also that employers take action to prevent any further injuries in the future.

Greening Law, P.C., is a dedicated supporter of Texas injury victims. If you or a loved one was harmed in an accident, Robert Greening, is ready to put more than 24 years of legal experience to work on your behalf. To schedule a consultation, contact us online or call 972-934-8900.