Before you call.
The situations I hear about most, answered the way I would answer them on the phone.
Texas work injuries run on two very different tracks, and which track you are on decides almost everything. Here is what I would tell you about the calls I get most.
I was hurt at work and my employer has workers’ compensation.
Then your claim against the employer itself runs through the comp system, which pays medical care and part of your wages but nothing for pain or a changed life. The question I ask next is who else was on the site.
Workers’ compensation is usually the exclusive remedy against a subscribing employer. It does not protect a contractor, an equipment maker, or a property owner whose negligence caused the injury; that is a third-party claim, and it recovers what comp does not.
A case if a third party caused it. If it was only your employer, the comp claim is the remedy, and I will say so.
Read Third-Party Claims. Benefit disputes go to the Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation.
My employer does not carry workers’ compensation.
Then it is a non-subscriber, and Texas lets you sue it directly for your full damages when its negligence hurt you.
Labor Code Section 406.033 takes away the defenses that blame the worker: contributory negligence, assumption of the risk, and the fellow-servant rule. You still have to prove the employer was negligent.
Often a case, and often a strong one.
Read Non-Subscriber Work Injury and Inspection. Employers must post whether they carry comp; ask, and photograph the notice.
I reported the injury and got fired, or my hours were cut.
That is its own claim, separate from the injury.
Labor Code Section 451.001 makes it unlawful to discharge or discriminate against an employee for filing a workers’ compensation claim in good faith, hiring a lawyer, or testifying in a comp proceeding.
Sometimes a case; it depends on the timing and what the employer said. It is an employment claim, and I may refer it.
Keep every text and email. The Texas Workforce Commission handles wage and unemployment questions; the State Bar of Texas Lawyer Referral and Information Service can match you with an employment lawyer if I am not the right fit.
The site is dangerous and nobody was hurt yet, or the injury was minor.
A lawsuit needs an injury. A hazard without one is a complaint, and complaints are how the next injury gets prevented.
Federal OSHA standards set the safety baseline. A worker can file a confidential complaint, and retaliation for doing so is itself prohibited.
Not a case. A complaint, and a worthwhile one.
File with OSHA, file a safety complaint. If the injury was minor and you lost no time, keep the medical record anyway; pain that grows over weeks is common in crush and fall injuries.
A family member was killed at a plant, a refinery, or a job site.
The company’s investigation starts the same day, and so does its lawyers’ work. The family’s claims belong to the spouse, children, and parents, and a separate claim belongs to the estate.
Wrongful death and survival claims are governed by Chapter 71 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, with a two-year limitations period. Where a third party or a non-subscriber is responsible, the case is outside the comp system.
A case, and the first weeks matter for preserving what the company would rather not keep.
Read Wrongful Death and Refinery and Plant Explosions. Then tell me about it.
If yours is a case, I will take the fight.
If it is not, I will tell you, and I will tell you where to go. A few questions, one at a time, in English or Spanish.
Tell Me About Your Case