“At J.A. Davis & Associates, we understand the physical and emotional toll an injury can take. Our McAllen personal injury lawyers are here to provide expert legal representation to help you recover.”
Workers’ Compensation Attorney — Texas Work Injury Lawyers Who Fight for You
A Workers’ Compensation Attorney Can Help You — Contact Our Texas Workers’ Comp Lawyers Today
On-the-job accidents are an everyday occurrence in Texas. Every day, hundreds of Texans are harmed or injured while performing their employment duties, and in many cases these work-related accidents cause severe injury — and in some instances, they are fatal. More information here.
Work-related injuries are not limited to dangerous industries like construction and industrial manufacturing. These injuries can occur while performing seemingly routine tasks — manning a counter at a convenience store, stocking shelves at a grocery store, or operating a cash register at a retail location. Workplace injuries can happen in virtually any environment, at any time, and in any number of ways. More information here.
Workers’ compensation law in Texas is designed to protect employees who are harmed while at the workplace due to an employer’s negligence, carelessness, or failure to maintain a safe and secure working environment. The law allows injured workers to be compensated for medical expenses and for lost wages while they recover or rehabilitate from their injuries. However, a dangerous myth has developed around the ease of collecting workers’ comp benefits in Texas. Most Texans do not realize that the majority of employers contest, minimize, or outright deny workers’ compensation claims — and that the process of securing lawful and rightful compensation can be extraordinarily difficult without experienced legal representation.
The burden of proving that an employer is negligent and liable for your work-related injuries falls squarely on you as the injured employee. You will be taking on experienced insurance company legal defense teams while trying to recover from your injuries, and that is an enormously difficult undertaking for anyone without legal knowledge. Our workers’ compensation attorneys will advise you of your legal options and fight to secure the full and fair compensation you are entitled to.
What Kind of Workplace Injury Claim Do You Have?
Texas is the only state in the country that does not require most private employers to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Texas employers have a choice: they can purchase workers’ compensation coverage through the state program, or they can purchase general liability or supplemental insurance from a private insurance corporation. Whether your employer subscribes to workers’ comp or not fundamentally determines the legal options available to you after a workplace injury.
Workers’ Compensation — Subscriber Employers
When an employer purchases workers’ compensation insurance, they are buying more than just coverage — they are also buying significant protection against being sued by injured employees. Texas law generally prevents employees from suing subscribing employers for on-the-job injuries, with limited exceptions. Workers’ compensation is intended to compensate injured workers for medical expenses and lost wages during recovery without the need for litigation.
However, workers’ comp insurance carriers should be viewed just like any other profit-driven business. They exist to make money, and they frequently do so by denying or minimizing injured workers’ claims. Each year, hundreds of Texans are denied fair and rightful compensation for their injuries by workers’ comp carriers whose primary obligation is to their shareholders, not to injured workers.
There are two important exceptions that can allow a lawsuit to be filed even against a subscribing employer. First, if gross negligence by the employer caused an employee’s death, the family can bring a wrongful death claim against the employer directly. Second, when a work-related accident or fatality is caused in whole or in part by the negligence of a third party — such as a equipment manufacturer, a subcontractor, a trucking company, or a parts supplier — that third party can be sued regardless of the employer’s workers’ comp status. Identifying every responsible third party is one of the most critical functions of an experienced workers’ comp attorney, and it is an area where inexperienced legal counsel frequently leaves significant compensation on the table.
Non-Subscriber Employers
When an employer chooses not to participate in the workers’ compensation program, the injured employee’s primary remedy is a direct lawsuit against the employer. Non-subscriber cases require proving standard negligence rather than gross negligence — a significantly lower threshold than what applies to subscriber cases. This is Texas’s way of penalizing employers who opt out of the workers’ comp system, and it provides injured workers with a more accessible path to compensation in these situations.
That said, non-subscriber cases are not automatically easy to win. They require thorough investigation, detailed documentation of negligence and resulting damages, and skilled legal advocacy to secure the full compensation the injured worker deserves. Insurance carriers representing non-subscribing employers are just as aggressive in contesting claims as those in the workers’ comp system.
Why Our Workers’ Compensation Attorneys Make the Difference
Our Texas workers’ compensation attorneys have more than 34 years of experience investigating and winning workplace personal injury and wrongful death claims. We have mastered the process of identifying every responsible party — employers, third-party contractors, equipment manufacturers, and others — and holding each of them fully accountable for their carelessness, recklessness, and negligence.
If you have been injured in a worksite accident or have lost a loved one in a workplace fatality, do not attempt to navigate this process alone. Contact our office today for a free consultation and let us explain exactly what your legal options are and how we can help you pursue every dollar of compensation you are entitled to.