Hurt on the Job in Houston? A Work Injury Lawyer and Former Insurance Adjuster Explains Who May Be Responsible
You were injured at work.
Maybe you fell at a warehouse, were struck by equipment on a construction site, were injured at a plant, or got hurt while working on a remodeling project.
Now you are dealing with pain, missed work, medical treatment, and one important question:
Who is responsible?
In Texas, that answer can be more complicated than simply identifying your employer.
Today, I am a personal injury lawyer representing injured Texans. Before becoming an attorney, I spent more than a decade handling and managing insurance claims, including as a licensed Executive General Adjuster. My insurance work included claims involving employers, contractors, subcontractors, property owners, and other businesses.
That experience matters because serious workplace accidents often involve more than one company and more than one insurance policy. Learn more about Herrera PLLC’s representation of injured workers in Houston construction and industrial accidents.
Who you may be able to pursue can depend on who employed you, whether your employer carries workers’ compensation insurance, who controlled the work, what caused the accident, and whether another company contributed to your injuries.
Before you read: The information below is general. Every workplace, employment relationship, insurance policy, contract, and accident is different. Workers’ compensation, nonsubscriber, third-party, maritime, and other workplace claims can involve different legal rules and deadlines. Talk to an attorney about the specific facts of your case.
Question 1: Does Your Employer Carry Texas Workers’ Compensation Insurance?
This is one of the first questions that needs to be answered after a workplace injury in Texas.
Unlike most states, Texas generally allows private employers to decide whether to participate in the workers’ compensation system, subject to exceptions for certain employers and industries.
An employer that carries workers’ compensation insurance is commonly referred to as a subscriber.
An employer that does not is commonly called a nonsubscriber.
That distinction can dramatically change your rights.
If Your Employer Carries Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Texas workers’ compensation may provide benefits for qualifying work-related injuries, including:
- Medical benefits;
- Income benefits for qualifying lost wages;
- Benefits for certain impairments or disabilities; and
- Death and burial benefits in qualifying cases.
Workers’ compensation generally does not require an injured employee to prove that the employer was negligent to receive covered benefits.
The tradeoff is significant.
Subject to important exceptions, workers’ compensation generally provides the exclusive remedy against a subscribing employer for a covered workplace injury.
In other words, you ordinarily cannot bring a traditional negligence lawsuit against a subscribing employer simply because the employer caused your injury.
Workers’ compensation also does not provide the same categories of damages available in a traditional personal injury lawsuit, such as ordinary pain-and-suffering damages.
But that does not necessarily mean workers’ compensation is your only potential claim.
Another person or company may also be responsible.
If Your Employer Does Not Carry Workers’ Compensation Insurance
If your employer is a nonsubscriber, the analysis changes significantly.
An injured employee may be able to pursue a negligence claim directly against the employer.
Texas law also restricts certain common-law defenses that otherwise might be available to a nonsubscribing employer in an employee injury case. The applicable rules are addressed in Texas Labor Code Chapter 406.
Some nonsubscribing employers provide their own occupational injury or employee-benefit plans.
Those plans are not necessarily the same thing as Texas workers’ compensation.
They may also contain:
- Notice requirements;
- Benefit limitations;
- Medical-provider provisions;
- Arbitration agreements; or
- Other contractual terms.
Do not assume that an employer telling you “we have an injury plan” means it carries Texas workers’ compensation insurance.
Find out exactly what coverage exists. The Texas Department of Insurance explains nonsubscriber requirements.
Question 2: Are You an Employee or an Independent Contractor?
This can be one of the most important—and misunderstood—questions in a workplace injury case.
A company calling you an “independent contractor” does not necessarily end the analysis.
Neither does receiving a particular tax form.
Texas courts can consider multiple factors when determining the nature of a working relationship, with the right to control the details of the work often playing an important role.
Relevant facts may include:
- Who controls how the work is performed;
- Who determines the schedule;
- Who supplies the tools and equipment;
- How the worker is paid;
- How long the working relationship lasts;
- Whether the worker operates an independent business; and
- Other facts showing who has the right to control the manner and means of performing the work.
Why does classification matter?
Because it can affect workers’ compensation coverage, who may be considered your employer, and which parties may be subject to a personal injury claim.
This becomes particularly important in construction, warehouse, staffing, delivery, and industrial work, where several companies may be involved in the same operation.
Question 3: Did Someone Other Than Your Employer Cause the Accident?
This is the part many injured workers overlook.
A workplace injury can potentially involve both workers’ compensation benefits and a separate third-party personal injury claim. Texas Labor Code Chapter 417 addresses third-party liability and workers’ compensation reimbursement rights.
Here is a simple example.
Suppose you work in a warehouse and your employer carries workers’ compensation insurance.
While you are working, a forklift operated by an employee of a separate company strikes you.
Your workers’ compensation coverage may provide benefits because you were injured in the course and scope of your employment.
But depending on the facts, you may also have a personal injury claim against the separate company responsible for the forklift accident. Herrera PLLC discusses similar liability questions involving equipment accidents on Texas construction sites.
That distinction matters because a third-party personal injury claim may permit recovery of damages that are not available through workers’ compensation.
Potential third parties can include:
- Other contractors and subcontractors;
- Property owners or property managers;
- Vendors;
- Equipment rental companies;
- Manufacturers or sellers of defective equipment;
- Trucking companies;
- Drivers employed by another company; and
- Other businesses whose conduct contributed to the accident.
If workers’ compensation benefits have been paid and you also recover from a responsible third party, workers’ compensation reimbursement or subrogation rights may become an important issue.
That should be evaluated carefully when resolving the third-party claim.
Construction Site Injuries: When There Is a GC, Multiple Subs, and an Owner
Construction accidents can become complicated very quickly. Herrera PLLC explains these issues in its guide to Houston construction site injuries beyond workers’ compensation.
A typical Houston construction project may involve:
- The property owner;
- A general contractor;
- Multiple subcontractors;
- Subcontractors working underneath other subcontractors;
- Staffing companies;
- Equipment suppliers;
- Material vendors; and
- Equipment rental companies.
After a serious accident, identifying who employed the injured worker is only the beginning.
You may also need to determine:
- Who controlled the work being performed;
- Who created the dangerous condition;
- Who supplied the equipment;
- Who was responsible for a particular portion of the jobsite;
- Whether another contractor caused the accident;
- Whether workers’ compensation coverage extends beyond the worker’s direct employer; and
- What the applicable contracts and insurance policies say.
Wrap-Up Insurance and Statutory Employer Issues
Large construction projects sometimes use consolidated insurance programs, commonly referred to as wrap-up programs, including owner-controlled or contractor-controlled insurance programs.
Workers’ compensation arrangements on construction projects can sometimes affect whether a general contractor or other entity receives statutory-employer protections.
That issue can become extremely important because workers’ compensation exclusive-remedy protections may potentially affect claims against parties other than the worker’s immediate employer.
You should not assume that the company issuing your paycheck is the only entity that may legally be treated as your employer.
What About the Property Owner?
A property owner is not automatically liable simply because an accident happened on its property.
Texas law can place significant limitations on claims against property owners involving contractors and subcontractors performing construction, repair, renovation, or other improvements to real property.
The analysis can depend on issues such as:
- Whether the property owner exercised or retained control over the manner in which the work was performed;
- Whether that control extended beyond merely ordering work to start or stop or inspecting progress;
- Whether a dangerous condition existed;
- What the owner actually knew; and
- The particular legal theory being asserted.
These cases are highly fact-specific.
The Contracts and Insurance Matter Too
Construction contracts can help establish which company was responsible for:
- Particular work;
- Safety obligations;
- Equipment;
- Supervision;
- Site conditions; and
- Other aspects of the project.
The contracts may also contain:
- Indemnity provisions;
- Additional-insured requirements;
- Insurance requirements; and
- Other risk-transfer provisions.
Those provisions do not necessarily determine who was negligent.
But they can become extremely important in determining which parties and insurance policies become involved after an accident.
That is one reason serious construction accidents should be investigated early.
Warehouse Injuries, Distribution Centers, and Staffing Agencies
Houston has an enormous warehouse, logistics, and distribution industry.
Those workplaces can involve:
- Forklifts;
- Pallet jacks;
- Conveyors;
- Loading docks;
- Industrial racking;
- Falling merchandise;
- Trucks and trailers;
- Temporary workers;
- Vendors; and
- Employees of several different companies working in the same facility.
Common warehouse accidents include:
- Forklift collisions;
- Pallet-jack accidents;
- Falls;
- Falling merchandise;
- Crush injuries;
- Loading-dock accidents; and
- Vehicle accidents.
Staffing arrangements can make the legal analysis more complicated.
A worker may receive a paycheck from a staffing company while performing day-to-day work at another company’s facility.
Depending on the facts and applicable law, questions can arise about which company is considered an employer and whether workers’ compensation exclusive-remedy protections apply.
At the same time, unrelated vendors, contractors, trucking companies, equipment companies, and other third parties may still potentially be responsible for causing the accident.
That is why the investigation should go beyond simply asking:
“Who signed my paycheck?”
Plants, Refineries, Remodeling Jobs, Roofing, and Other High-Risk Work
The same basic questions arise across many Houston-area workplaces.
Refineries, Chemical Plants, and Industrial Facilities
These sites may involve multiple contractors, subcontractors, equipment companies, maintenance companies, and sophisticated contractual arrangements.
A serious accident can require investigation into both the physical cause of the incident and the relationships among the companies working at the facility.
For more on these cases, see Herrera PLLC’s page on Houston oilfield accidents.
Remodeling and Renovation Projects
Smaller construction projects can present the opposite problem.
There may be little paperwork, informal employment arrangements, unclear insurance coverage, and disputes over who actually controlled the work.
Roofing
Falls from roofs, scaffolds, and ladders can result in catastrophic injuries.
The investigation may involve the worker’s employer, general contractor, property owner, equipment provider, or other companies involved with the project.
Herrera PLLC also covers falls from heights on Texas construction sites.
Delivery and Trucking
A driver may be injured in a traffic collision while working or may be injured at a customer’s property, loading dock, warehouse, or distribution center.
Those situations can potentially involve both employment-related benefits and claims against responsible third parties.
Maritime and Offshore Work
Workers injured offshore, aboard vessels, at docks, or in certain maritime environments may be subject to different state and federal legal frameworks.
Those cases should be evaluated separately and quickly because the applicable rights, benefits, and deadlines can be very different.
Why My Insurance Background Matters in a Work Injury Case
Serious workplace injury cases frequently involve insurance.
But they also involve relationships between companies.
Who employed whom?
Who controlled the work?
Who owned the equipment?
Who agreed to perform which part of the job?
Who was required to carry insurance?
Was another company named as an additional insured?
Does workers’ compensation exclusive remedy apply?
Is there a third-party liability policy?
Those questions can determine whether an injured worker has only a workers’ compensation claim or whether there is also a personal injury case against another responsible party.
Before becoming a personal injury lawyer, I spent more than a decade handling and managing insurance claims, including as a licensed Executive General Adjuster.
My insurance work required me to evaluate claims involving multiple companies, insurance policies, contractual relationships, tenders, indemnity issues, and additional-insured questions.
I have also written about contractual indemnification and insurance issues for Claims Journal.
Today, as a Texas personal injury lawyer, I use that experience to identify the parties and insurance coverage that may matter when someone is seriously injured at work.
What Should You Do After a Work Injury?
If you are injured on the job:
- Get appropriate medical care. Tell the medical provider that the injury occurred while you were working.
- Report the injury promptly. If Texas workers’ compensation applies, notice deadlines can affect your benefits.
- Find out whether your employer carries Texas workers’ compensation insurance. Do not assume an employer-sponsored injury plan is the same thing.
- Write down what happened while it is fresh. Identify the companies, workers, equipment, vehicles, and conditions involved.
- Take photographs and video when safely possible. Jobsite conditions can change quickly.
- Identify witnesses. Get their names, telephone numbers, and employers when possible.
- Preserve evidence. Equipment may be repaired, surveillance footage may be overwritten, and jobsite conditions may disappear.
- Be careful about signing releases, waivers, arbitration documents, or other paperwork you do not understand.
- Be cautious about giving recorded statements to another company’s insurance carrier before understanding why the statement is being requested.
- Consider speaking with a work injury lawyer early if another company may have contributed to the accident or there is uncertainty about your employer’s workers’ compensation status.
Work Injury Deadlines Can Be Different
Do not assume every work injury has the same deadline.
For a Texas workers’ compensation claim, statutory notice and filing requirements may apply.
A personal injury lawsuit against a third party is governed by different limitations rules.
Nonsubscriber claims, governmental claims, maritime claims, and other specialized cases can present additional requirements.
The safest approach after a serious workplace accident is to identify the potential claims early rather than waiting until a deadline is approaching.
Can I Be Fired for Filing a Workers’ Compensation Claim?
Texas law provides protections against certain retaliatory actions involving employees who pursue workers’ compensation rights in good faith.
Whether a particular termination, demotion, or other employment action violates Texas law depends on the facts.
If you believe your employer retaliated against you because you reported a workplace injury or pursued workers’ compensation benefits, consider speaking with an attorney who handles that type of employment or workers’ compensation issue. Texas Labor Code Chapter 451 addresses discrimination against employees who exercise certain workers’ compensation rights.
Talk to a Houston Work Injury Lawyer and Former Insurance Adjuster
A serious workplace accident may involve much more than a workers’ compensation claim.
The key question is often:
Did someone other than your employer contribute to what happened?
Today, I am a Texas personal injury lawyer representing injured people.
Before becoming an attorney, I spent more than a decade handling and managing insurance claims, including as a licensed Executive General Adjuster.
That background helps me evaluate the insurance policies, contractors, companies, and contractual relationships that can become important after a serious workplace accident.
If you were injured at a warehouse, construction site, plant, remodeling project, or another workplace, let’s determine who may be responsible and what claims may be available.
Herrera PLLC represents injured workers in Houston and throughout Texas, in English and Spanish.
Call (832) 891-3210 for a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer and former insurance adjuster.
For personal injury claims, you owe no attorney’s fees unless we recover for you.
Hablamos español.
Herrera PLLC
2339 Commerce Street, #172
Houston, Texas 77002
Phone: 832-891-3210
Email: jherrera@jh-lawpllc.com
Related Reading
- The Other Driver’s Insurance Wants a Recorded Statement. Here’s What You Should Know Before You Agree.
- “It’s Just a Soft Tissue Injury”: What That Means for Your Claim, From a Personal Injury Lawyer and Former Insurance Adjuster
- An Insurance Adjuster Is at Your Door With a Check. Read This Before You Sign.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends primarily on the employer’s workers’ compensation status and the circumstances of the injury. When a subscribing employer provides workers’ compensation coverage, the exclusive-remedy rule generally prevents an employee from bringing an ordinary negligence claim against that employer for a covered injury, subject to exceptions. If the employer is a nonsubscriber, a negligence claim against the employer may be available.
A nonsubscriber is generally a Texas employer that does not participate in the Texas workers’ compensation system. Depending on the circumstances, an employee injured while working for a nonsubscriber may have a negligence claim directly against the employer.
Potentially, yes. If someone other than your employer contributed to your workplace injury, you may have a third-party personal injury claim in addition to workers’ compensation benefits. Workers’ compensation reimbursement or subrogation rights may affect a third-party recovery.
The label used by the company or worker does not necessarily control. The analysis can involve several factors, including the right to control how the work is performed, who provides equipment, how the worker is paid, the nature of the relationship, and other circumstances.
Depending on the facts, potentially responsible parties can include contractors, subcontractors, equipment companies, manufacturers, property owners, drivers, and other businesses. Workers’ compensation and statutory-employer rules may limit claims against certain parties, so each relationship must be evaluated individually.
Staffing arrangements can create complicated employment and workers’ compensation questions. Depending on the circumstances, the staffing company, host company, or both may have important legal relationships with the worker. Separate third parties that caused the accident may still potentially be liable.
Different claims have different deadlines. Texas workers’ compensation claims have their own notice and filing requirements, while personal injury claims against third parties generally involve separate statutes of limitations. Governmental, maritime, and other specialized claims may have additional or shorter requirements. Because the correct deadline depends on the claim, do not assume a single deadline applies to every workplace accident.
A third-party work injury claim is a personal injury claim against a person or company other than an employer protected by the workers’ compensation exclusive-remedy rule. Examples can include another contractor, a negligent driver, an equipment manufacturer, or another company whose conduct caused or contributed to the accident.
SCHEDULE A CONSULTATION
Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.