You got hurt doing your job and the answers you are getting depend on who you ask. Javier Perez Law represents injured workers across Dallas, Fort Worth and the rest of Texas, in English and Spanish, and reviews these cases at no cost. Call +1 (214) 499-0667.
The first thing that has to be established is whether your employer carries workers' compensation, because everything after that branches from the answer.
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Table of contents
- Is your employer required to carry workers' compensation in Texas?
- What is your employer required to report after a serious injury?
- Workplace injury claims in Fort Worth and Tarrant County
- Workplace injury claims across Texas
- Texas Workplace Injury Questions Workers Ask Before Calling
- The Company's Version Is Already Written Down
Is your employer required to carry workers' compensation in Texas?
No. Texas is the only state that lets most private employers go without it, and roughly one in four Texas employers do. An employer without coverage is called a nonsubscriber.
That choice costs them something. Under Section 406.033 of the Texas Labor Code, a nonsubscriber sued by an injured employee cannot argue that the worker was careless, that the worker assumed the risk of the job, or that a coworker caused the injury. You still have to prove the employer was negligent. They lose the three defenses they would otherwise lead with.
Where coverage does exist, you generally cannot sue the employer, but you keep the right to sue a third party whose negligence caused the injury. On most job sites that means a general contractor, a separate subcontractor, an equipment manufacturer, or a property owner.
| Employer carries workers' comp | Employer is a nonsubscriber | |
| Can you sue your employer | Generally no | Yes, for negligence |
| Employer's defenses | Not applicable | Cannot argue your carelessness, assumed risk, or coworker fault |
| Report to employer | Within 30 days | No statutory reporting deadline |
| Deadline to act | File with the Division of Workers' Compensation within 1 year | File suit within 2 years |
| Who picks the doctor | Often network-directed | You are not bound to a company doctor |
| Claim against a third party | Still available | Still available |
Not sure which situation you are in? That is a fifteen-minute phone call. +1 (214) 499-0667.
What is your employer required to report after a serious injury?
More than most workers realize, and the paperwork becomes evidence. Under 29 CFR 1904.39, an employer must report a work-related fatality to OSHA within eight hours, and an inpatient hospitalization, an amputation, or the loss of an eye within twenty-four hours. Understanding workers' rights after workplace amputation can help injured employees recognize the importance of reporting requirements and preserving records related to the incident.
Those reports matter to your claim for a practical reason. They generate an outside record with a timestamp that does not depend on the company's internal version of events, and they can trigger an inspection that produces findings no employer would have volunteered.
Workers also have the right to file a safety complaint with OSHA, and retaliation for doing so is prohibited. OSHA states plainly that a worker's job, age, birthplace, language, or immigration status does not change the right to be safe at work.
Workplace injury claims in Fort Worth and Tarrant County
West of the county line, the mix of work changes and so does the claim. Tarrant County runs on distribution centers, freight and rail operations, aerospace and manufacturing plants, and the construction that keeps pace with them, and the injuries follow that work.
We handle warehouse and forklift injuries, loading dock and trailer incidents, machine guarding failures, falls from height on commercial builds, crush and caught-between injuries, and burns from electrical and chemical exposure. Where a third party is responsible, the claim often reaches a commercial policy far larger than anything the employer carries.
Suits arising in Fort Worth, Arlington and the surrounding cities are filed in Tarrant County rather than Dallas County, in front of a different bench and a different jury pool. Insurers price cases partly on where they would be tried, which makes the venue decision part of the strategy rather than a formality.
Workplace injury claims across Texas
Distance is not the obstacle it used to be in these cases. We take injury claims from job sites throughout Texas, and most of what a case needs in its first weeks happens through records, site inspection and preservation letters rather than in a conference room.
Statewide, the pattern repeats: energy and petrochemical sites along the Gulf Coast, agricultural and processing work in the Valley and the Panhandle, highway construction in every growing metro. What stays constant is the structure of the claim. Identify whether the employer subscribes, identify every contractor and vendor on the site, preserve the equipment and the scene, and find the policies that actually cover the loss.
Two related pages go deeper on specific job-site injuries: construction site injuries and workplace burn injuries.
Texas Workplace Injury Questions Workers Ask Before Calling
My employer says I have to use their clinic. Do I?
It depends on whether they carry workers' compensation. In a claim against an employer without coverage you are not bound to a company-selected doctor, and a premature return-to-work note in the file is difficult to undo later.
They offered me an accident benefit plan instead of comp. Is that the same thing?
No. Many nonsubscribers offer a private occupational benefit plan that resembles workers' compensation and is not. These plans typically pay less, direct your medical care, and sometimes ask for a signed waiver. A waiver signed before an injury is void in Texas, and one signed afterward is valid only under strict conditions.
How long do I have?
If your employer has coverage, report the injury within thirty days and file with the Division of Workers' Compensation within one year. If your employer has no coverage, the lawsuit follows the two-year personal injury deadline instead. Those are different systems and the deadlines do not transfer between them.
What does it cost to hire you?
Nothing up front. These are handled on contingency, so there is no attorney fee unless we win your personal injury case.
The Company's Version Is Already Written Down
The supervisor's report, the internal incident form, and the site video were all created within days of your injury, by people who answer to your employer. That file is what an adjuster will read two years from now.
Javier Perez Law builds the other side of it. Free consultation, in English or Spanish, at any hour. In your time of need, Javier Perez is on your side.
Call +1 (214) 499-0667. En español.