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Are You Really an Employee, Legally?
This is a very important question to answer before beginning your case. In Texas, the law states employers are not obligated to keep the workplace safe for contractors, volunteers, or temporary employees. Consequently, many employers rely on only these types of workers so they can save on insurance costs, safety upgrades, and maintenance, and to avert potential liability. The logic they rely on is simple — why should they be responsible for your injury, when you, technically, were never their employee? Yet legally, even though an employer refers to you as a “contractor,” and even when you have a signed related contract, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are not a true “employee”. It’s not set in stone.
Then to complicate the issue, Texas law doesn’t provide clear guidelines for determining employee status from a civil liability standpoint. Your attorney has to refer to previous rulings by a judge, called “case law,” to determine whether a worker is an employee or a contractor. Fortunately, case law in Texas is clear on this point: in terms of civil liability, an employer-employee relationship is determined not by your job title or a contract, but by your actual working relationship with your employer. You still may be able to recover from your employer, even if you were hired as a contractor or a temp worker if you can show the existence of an employer-employee relationship at the time of your injury. Some of the factors used to determine whether you are an employee or contractor are listed below:
If you are an employee, your employer withholds taxes or social security from your check.
If you are an employee, you are paid by the hour or on salary rather than on completion of a job or project.
If you are an employee, the employer sets your work schedule, (if you determine how much time is spent on each project, and can devote as much or as little time you want to a project, then you are a contractor; if the employer determines the amount of time devoted to a project, then you are an employee.
If you were hired for an indefinite period of time, as opposed to just completing a specific task or project, then you are an employee.
If you are an employee, the employer provides the materials and equipment you need for your job. If you are responsible for providing your own tools and equipment, then you are a contractor.
If you are an employee, you signed a document, like conditions of employment, an employee handbook, or a confidentiality agreement, which limited your legal rights relating to the job.
If you took a mandatory drug test, you are an employee.
If you are an employee, the employer supervises, directs, and inspects you and your work as you do your job or examines your project at various stages of completion. If the employer only looks at the finished product, you are a contractor.
The employer can hire or fire you at any time if you are an employee.
If the employer can select a particular worker for a job, then that worker is an employee (if an agency can send over any worker it wants, then the worker is a contractor).
You are a contractor if you work for many different clients, rather than for a single company. For example, if a computer technician works for many different clients on different projects, he is a contractor; if he only works for an accounting company only, then he is an employee.
If an agency lending a worker can substitute another worker at any time, then the worker is a contractor.
If an employer “borrows” a worker for a particular skill set (for example, a framing company borrows an expert woodcarver from a furniture manufacturer for a special framing project), then the worker is a contractor. If, however, an employer “borrows” a worker to fill a position that virtually anyone could fill, then that worker is an employee.
As clearly seen in the examples above, the line between employee and contractor is not always completely clear-cut. The court usually looks at several factors in conjunction to determine whether such a relationship existed. The burden of proof to prove an employer/employee relationship existed at the time of your injury, will rest upon you in court. Proving this relationship existed when you were injured is a complicated process requiring some intricate legal thinking.
Many attorneys do not have a grasp of how to prove this relationship, so for a layman, the task is even more difficult. To establish this relationship and obtain compensation for your injury, you need to hire a competent, experienced legal professional who understands how to prove you were a legal employee under the State of Texas laws. Even if you’ve been turned down by another attorney and told that you don’t have a case, call our non-subscriber work injury attorneys for a free consultation. On many occasions, we have won cases for contractors and temporary workers, when other law firms turned down their cases. We’ve been handling claims similar to these in Texas for twenty years. Even if you were called a temp worker or a contractor, we can help you show the existence of the employer/employee relationship so you can receive compensation from your employer for your injuries.
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Texas Workers Comp Lawyers Discuss Natural Gas Drilling Rig and Roughneck Injuries
As vital as oil is to the economy of not only Texas but also the entire United States, the job of gathering that oil can be fraught with danger. The oil industry is one of the most hazardous professions in existence, as injuries and, unfortunately, deaths can take place in gas well drilling accidents, offshore drilling accidents, oil rig drilling accidents, and oilfield accidents.
The use of heavy machinery is prevalent in the oil industry, so workers are almost in a constant state of danger from this machinery. There aren’t many workers in the industry that have not sustained some kind of injury, and, unfortunately, fatalities are all too common. Because of the heavy machinery used in areas such as oil platforms, oil rigs, and oilfield, injuries that take place can be extremely serious. They can include paralysis, severe burns, brain trauma, amputations, crushed bones, and, of course, death. Wildcatters, drillers, roughnecks, and roustabouts are, in particular, susceptible to suffering injuries in an oil industry-related accident. The extremely sad part of many of these injuries is that they, many times, could have been avoided if only proper guidelines had been observed. Accidents such as explosions, fires, valve failure, rig collapse, and others can oftentimes be quite avoidable.
If you have suffered an oil-related injury, or you are the family of an oil worker who died in an oil industry accident, the first thing you must determine is whether or not the worker’s employer bought workers’ compensation insurance. Because the oil industry is so dangerous, most employers think beforehand and buy insurance that is provided for by the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act of 1993. But that does not mean that every oil industry employer has purchased workers’ comp coverage.
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Workers’ Comp Claim Exceptions
There is only one exception where the family of a deceased accident victim can sue a subscribing employer. That is when the employer’s gross negligence was the reason for the accident taking place that caused the wrongful death. It can be much harder to prove gross negligence, however, than standard negligence. Gross negligence is, in a nutshell, when an employer habitually created an unsafe workplace environment and was aware that an accident would likely happen that would result in either an injury or death. Standard negligence, on the other hand, is the temporary lack of focus or reason of an employee that led to an accident. A subscribing company cannot be successfully sued unless gross negligence can be proven. The oilfield accident attorneys with our Law Office are adept at building rock-solid cases against employers that are grossly negligent in order for the families of deceased workers can obtain the restitution they have coming to them.
Companies that are Workers’ Comp Non-Subscribers
The victim, or plaintiff, will more than likely have to file a lawsuit against a non-subscriber in order to obtain restitution after an oilfield injury. The first thing the victim must do is file a claim with the employer that details both the injury and the extent of the monetary damages the victim expects to receive in restitution. The employer then has the choice of either paying you what you demand or attempting to negotiate a settlement for a lesser amount. Most of the time, however, a non-subscriber will choose neither option. When that happens, your only recourse in securing the fair compensation you have coming to you is by pursuing legal action by filing a lawsuit.
A plaintiff can get a substantially higher amount of restitution via a lawsuit than he or she might be able to obtain through a workers’ compensation claim. Also, the plaintiff needs to only prove standard negligence – the aforementioned temporary, solitary error in judgment or the duty to provide a safe workplace – and doing so is fairly simple. When the Texas Legislature enacted workers’ comp in 1992, it did so with the purpose of trying to shield companies from frivolous employee lawsuits. It does not require employers to buy the insurance, but it very strongly encourages them to do so. As a result, non-subscribers are “punished,” so to speak, by allowing not only employee lawsuits but requiring that those employees need only prove standard negligence.
There can be extremely large amounts of money at stake, however, and employers will employ a wide variety of tactics – both legal and illegal – in order to keep from having to pay a claim. Through two decades of dealing with workers’ comp claims, the oilfield accident attorneys with our law Office know the tricks that non-subscribing companies can try to pull. We can protect your right to pursue compensation by putting our experience and track record of success to use for you.
An injured worker, or plaintiff, has to bear the burden of proof in order to win a personal injury case and therefore has to be able to provide a convincing argument that will prove the negligence of the employer led to the accident that caused injury to an employee. The plaintiff has to establish that the employer should be held responsible for the pain and suffering, medical bills, lost wages, and lost potential earnings due to lifelong disabilities that the plaintiff has incurred. The standard of negligence that must be proven in a case regarding a non-subscriber is quite low, but it can still be very difficult for inexperienced attorneys and nearly impossible for those who have no legal background. But our experience enables us to establish standard negligence in a relatively easy fashion.
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Hurdles Plaintiffs Must Overcome in Winning a Case Against a Non-Subscriber
Again, the purpose behind workers’ comp is to strongly encourage companies to purchase the insurance. As a result, those that choose not to are punished for their decision by being afforded only one true defense against personal injury or wrongful death lawsuits – this defense, known as the “sole proximate cause” defense, means that an employer will not be held liable for any injuries suffered by their employees if it can be proven that the employee was 100 percent responsible for the accident that caused that injury. In this instance, a case involving a non-subscriber can get very personal; the employer will often defame the employee’s character, painting a picture of that employee as an incompetent and careless worker whose own negligence resulted in his or her injuries. Since the defense has no other option at its disposal, you can be virtually certain that the opposition’s attorneys will attack your character and make you look incompetent.
In addition, even though a non-subscriber chose not to buy workers’ comp coverage, that doesn’t mean it is without a very expensive insurance policy. Many companies choose to buy private insurance rather than workers’ comp, which can be even more expensive. Millions of dollars can be at stake in a case involving a non-subscriber, so the insurance company will have aggressive adjusters on the job who will do whatever it takes to either reduce the amount of restitution you obtain or simply flat-out deny the claim. These adjusters aren’t anything like the ones you may encounter after a run-of-the-mill fender-bender. These people are highly trained and highly paid professionals, and they could not care less about your injury, no matter how severe. In fact, they are often paid handsome bonuses for denying claims, so they have a strong motivation to do the same to yours. Shortly after an accident, they will likely attempt to pelt you with a barrage of confusing questions that are designed to trip you up and get you to admit responsibility for the accident. This way, the insurance company can potentially get away without having to pay you a dime. Never talk to an insurance adjuster without an experienced attorney by your side who will protect your rights. Also, the insurance company will also be represented by very formidable attorneys who love it when an injury victim decides to go it alone and represent himself or herself. They love it because they know they can easily out-negotiate you and either give you a relative pittance or leave you with no compensation at all.
These sharks only respect an opposing attorney that has a track record of success. Our Law Office has taken on nearly every major insurance carrier in the United States and defeated it. Because insurers know us and respect us, they will often offer our clients fair settlements rather than take the risk of losing a great deal more money by tangling with our attorneys in a trial. To have any chance at getting the restitution you have coming, you simply have to have a seasoned and skilled oilfield accident attorney working on your side.
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Proving the Relationship between Employer and Employee
Non-subscribing employers are under no obligation to provide a safe workplace to temporary workers or contract workers in the eyes of the law in Texas; those workers are responsible for their own workplace safety. So an injured worker who falls under one of those categories cannot sue the non-subscribing company. However, there are many instances where a company will try and label their workers as contractors in order to avoid liability in the event of a workplace accident that results in an accident. This happens quite a bit in the oil industry, as many oilfield workers are considered contractors. But just because a company calls you a contractor doesn’t mean that a court of law will view you in that same manner. We have encountered myriad instances in our 20 years of practice where we have been able to establish that an employer-employee relationship did, in fact, exist by simply asking the right questions. As a result, we were able to help our clients secure just compensation. If you meet any of these following standards, then you will be seen as an employee in the eyes of the law.
The employer withholds taxes or social security from your paycheck.
The employer supplied you with the equipment that was essential for you to do your job.
The employer expected to you maintain a specific work schedule that is established.
The employer either inspected, oversaw, or managed your work on a regular basis, either by the employer, or the employer’s manager or foreman.
The employer asked you to either perform a task or sign a document that in some way limited your rights. For instance, you were asked to take a drug test or to sign a document stating that you had read, and agreed to comply with, an employee handbook.
The employer employed you for an undetermined period of time, and not just for a certain job.
The employer paid you on either a salary basis or an hourly basis, and not on a job-by-job basis.
The oilfield accident attorneys with Our Law Office can launch a detailed, thorough investigation in order to prove that you were, indeed, an employee and not a contract worker. We can procure pay stubs, interview fellow workers, and thoroughly review contracts in order to establish that you were an employee when injured.
How We Can Help You
The attorneys with our Law Office can help you or your family, no matter how your injury or the wrongful death of your loved one took place in an oil industry accident. We will be passionate and dedicated in working your case, and work tirelessly in order that you get the maximum amount of restitution that you have coming to you.
It does not matter whether the accident was caused by a subscriber or a non-subscriber, or by one or more third parties. Call us as soon as you can for a confidential and free consultation. We will go over the specific circumstances of your case and tell you how we may be able to help you.
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If You are Looking for a Workers’ Comp Attorney, Call Our Law Office
A seasoned and effective workers comp lawyer can be of a great deal of help to you should you suffer an injury resulting from a workplace accident. These kinds of accidents come in many varieties; some can be relatively minor, where you can return to work either immediately after a small amount of treatment or the next day.
Others can be catastrophic, and lead to months, if not years of extensive rehabilitation and keep you out of work for a very, very long period of time. In some instances, this kind of injury can mean you will never be able to return to work. Should you experience a work-related injury, there may be a chance that you can get just restitution for the physical and emotional trauma you are going through.
Workplace accidents often occur without any warning, and with devastating consequences. They can be caused by malfunctioning or faulty equipment, negligence on the part of the company or a fellow worker, or some other entity, and can involve falls, vehicle accidents, body parts entrapped in machinery, falling debris or many other different circumstances that can cause a great deal of personal harm. In Texas, the law states that, if an accident occurs, the employer could be held liable for your injuries and the expenses and other unfortunate consequences that result from the accident. But there are a lot of things that people may assume concerning these kinds of events. One of the most common being that the employer or the employer’s insurance company will choose to “do the right thing” and compensate that worker for any losses he or she may incur. The cold fact is, however, that oftentimes this could not be further from the truth. Most of the time quite the opposite takes place – the employer and insurer will try and deny workers’ injury claims, thus leaving them on their own to deal with the crushing financial burdens created by the accident.
When a company or insurance provider chooses to fight a claim, the result is usually a lawsuit filed by the worker in order to get fair restitution for the physical, mental and monetary costs associated with the accident. In these cases, the worker filing the claim – referred to as the “plaintiff” in legal parlance – has to carry the burden of proof. In other words, he or she has to prove that the negligence of the employer or another entity led to the accident. If that injured worker is you, it is imperative that you immediately get in touch with an experienced workers comp lawyer who can help you meet that burden of proof and prevail against those responsible for your injury.
You will notice a theme throughout this article – the critical importance of you seeking experienced legal representation. We will stress this point repeatedly. It really can’t be stressed enough. There is an incredible number of hurdles that you, the plaintiff, will have to surmount in order to successfully pursue personal injury litigation. These hurdles will make your case extremely complex. If you have a novice lawyer, or worse yet, you try to take on this litigation on your own, your chances of winning are basically nil.
It could prove to be the worst mistake you’ll ever make; if you leave that courtroom a loser, then you will be responsible for all of your medical expenses. That could lead to financial ruin. The worker’s comp lawyers with our Law Office have two decades of experience in handling personal injury cases involved with workers’ compensation claims. We are extremely adept at helping injury victims get the just restitution they deserve for their injuries and we can help you navigate through all the legal complexities you will face, and thoroughly explain all legal options you have.
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Is My Employer a Workers Compensation Insurance Subscriber?
The answer to the above question may be the most important one surrounding your case. There are many states in this country that require companies to pay for, or “subscribe to,” workers compensation insurance. Texas, however, does not. A lot of companies in Texas choose to subscribe to workers’ comp insurance, even though it can be very expensive. The reason is the protection from lawsuits workers comp insurance provides. Companies that choose not to purchase workers’ comp insurance are known as “non-subscribers,” and they much more exposed to litigation than is a subscribing company, as you will see later in this article. Whatever the case, it is vital to ascertain whether your employer is a subscriber or a non-subscriber. You must seek legal assistance in order for you to completely comprehend the rights you have, and to determine the best legal avenue to pursue. While your litigation will differ greatly depending on whether your employer is a subscriber or non-subscriber, both kinds of cases will be filled with complexities and intricacies that inexperienced lawyers and legal laymen will find extremely daunting, to say the least. We know how to pursue litigation no matter what side of the worker’s comp fence your company resides.
How Does an Employer Benefit from Workers Comp?
The benefits to an employer from being a subscriber to workers’ compensation insurance can be enormous. Basically, a subscriber is buying much more than just an insurance policy. It’s buying lawsuit protection. An injured worker cannot sue a subscribing company. Workers comp can provide some compensation to an injured employee to help cover a portion of medical expenses and lost pay, but the amount provided normally doesn’t come close to paying for all the medical bills an injured worker accrues and is woefully inadequate in covering lost wages. And just because you suffer a workplace injury, that does not automatically guarantee that you’ll get even that relative pittance. Workers comp payments come from the insurance provider, and many times that insurer will be determined to deny a claim and thus not have to pay anything to the injured worker. At the very least, that insurer will do whatever it can to pay the least amount of money it can possibly get away with. There are several instances in Texas every year where an injured worker’s injury claim is denied flat-out thanks to the efforts of an extremely aggressive insurance provider. But an experienced workers comp lawyer can work to ensure you do not have to suffer a similar injustice.
Even though a subscribing company is shielded from a lawsuit, there are other legal methods you can employ to get fair restitution for your injury. There may be an exception that applies to your case that may allow you to take legal action against your employer, or you may be able to take action against a responsible third party, such as the manufacturer of a defective piece of equipment that may have led to the accident that caused your injury.
Exceptions in Workers Comp Cases
There are two very important exceptions regarding the workers’ compensation system that may help workplace accident victims or their families seek fair restitution. First, if a workplace accident occurs on a workers comp subscriber’s job site, and it results in the death of a worker, and it can be proven that the employer’s gross negligence led to the death, then the victim’s family can file a wrongful death lawsuit against that employer.
For workers who suffer an injury, there may be a way to pursue legal action against another party. There could be multiple persons or entities to blame for the injury; a contractor, fellow employee, or an outside third party could have caused the accident. The workers’ comp lawyers at our Law Office know how to thoroughly explore all aspects of your case to identify and pursue legal action against those responsible third parties, and find other means of obtaining compensation for injury victims.
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What Happens if My Employer is a Workers Comp Non-Subscriber?
Personal injury litigation involving a claim filed by a worker against a non-subscriber works in a completely different manner than those regarding subscribing companies. When the Texas Legislature enacted workers comp law, it did so with the intention of trying to lighten the burdens of an incredibly overwhelmed state legal system. The thinking was, if the instances of workers’ injury lawsuits could be lessened, the entire legal system might be able to work much more efficiently. That’s why subscribers are shielded from lawsuits involving the workplace. Consequently, the law looks unfavorably toward companies that choose not to subscribe to workers’ comp insurance. You can say the law, in effect, “punishes” non-subscribers to leaving them wide open to personal injury litigation. It is far easier for injured workers to gain just restitution for medical expenses, lost pay and pain, and suffering from a non-subscribing company than it is a subscriber. The obvious difference is that an injured worker can sue a non-subscriber. And since there is no workers’ compensation claim to file in this kind of case, a victim will not be subjected to the onerous bureaucracy associated with the workers’ comp claims process.
While it may seem like a slam-dunk, that it would be very simple to win a personal injury lawsuit against a non-subscriber, in reality, it’s not. A plaintiff in this case does, indeed, have more rights. But that in no way means the process is an easy one. These kinds of cases have a lot of complexity surrounding them; and experienced attorneys – by either working for the defense to minimize compensation awarded or for the plaintiff to increase compensation – can use these complexities to the benefit of their client. The attorneys at our Law Office are extremely familiar with non-subscriber personal injury litigation and can put that experience to use for you in making sure you are fairly compensated for the injury you have suffered due to the negligence of your employer.
Sometimes a claim can be resolved amicably out of court. Many times, however, that doesn’t happen and a lawsuit gets filed as a result. As stated before, when a case goes to trial, the plaintiff bears the burden of proof. Your side must prove the accident that led to your injury was caused by the employer’s negligence, and that you have incurred lost wages and lost future earning potential, medical expenses, and both emotional and physical pain and suffering as a result. This is another key difference in cases involving subscribing and non-subscribing defendants. In any case involving a subscriber, “gross negligence” has to be proven – basically, the plaintiff has to prove that an employer habitually and recklessly created a hazardous workplace environment and that an injury-causing accident was inevitable. In a case involving a non-subscriber, however, the plaintiff needs only to prove “standard negligence,” meaning that someone’s momentary lack of focus led to the accident. This may be much easier to prove, but it still comes with several pitfalls.
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Problems Involving Non-Subscriber Work Injury Claims
A non-subscribing company has but one legal defense tool it can use to try and defeat a personal injury claim, and it is called “sole proximate cause.” As we explained previously, a non-subscriber’s legal defense options are limited in this manner as a way of being punished for not purchasing workers’ compensation insurance. It can be exceedingly difficult for a non-subscriber to win a personal injury case as a result, and thus this can be a huge advantage to the plaintiff. But again, that is in no way meant to infer that winning such a case will be easy. As you will see, the sole proximate cause defense can lead to a highly emotional case that can leave lasting effects on both sides.
Sole Proximate Cause
The “sole proximate cause” defense means that the employer will maintain that you, the plaintiff, were solely responsible for the accident that caused your injury. If you were injured as a result of the accident, you were 100 percent to blame for your injury. And if this case goes to trial, the employer will always try and use the sole proximate cause defense. As a result, prepare for personal attacks on your reputation, because your employer will basically do whatever it can to paint you as an irresponsible, incompetent employee.
Non-subscribers aren’t stupid enough to not have insurance. In fact, those policies can be quite expensive. Therefore, you can guarantee the insurance provider will aggressively work to protect that policy. Specialized operatives will be dispatched to try and defeat your claim. These highly-paid professionals aren’t like a typical insurance agent you may encounter after a little fender-bender. These are normally not very pleasant people to deal with. Their only purpose is to ensure you leave the courtroom with nothing so that their insurance company’s bottom line is protected.
Those agents are but one component of the insurance company’s defense team. The other component will be a team of well-trained and highly skilled defense lawyers who will work to prove you were the sole cause of the accident that injured you. The insurance company could not care less about what you’re going through, the bills that are piling up, and the pain you’re experiencing on a daily basis. All it cares about is making money, and you are in the way of that. In order for them to continue making a profit, insurance companies work to defeat claims like yours every week. The more claims they can defeat, the higher their profit margin. By employing the services of the experienced workers’ comp lawyers at our Law Office, you will have someone on your side working in your best interests to see that you get all of the compensation you deserve.
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The Employer/Employee Relationship
There may be a method a non-subscribing company will use in order to defeat a claim. Even though it could be as flimsy as the sole proximate cause defense, it still must be taken seriously. It can be difficult to combat. What a non-subscriber might do to avoid having to pay your claim is to try and prove that you, in fact, were never really an employee of the company, but a contractor. If they can prove that an employer/employee relationship never existed, they can successfully avoid paying your claim. In Texas, contractors are responsible for their own safety in the workplace. Thus, if the company can prove you were a contractor, they cannot be held responsible for the accident that resulted in your injury. Our law firm has dealt with this kind of tactic many times; even if the company that hired you always saw you as a contractor, that doesn’t mean that you’ll be regarded that way in the eyes of the law. There are many ways to prove that the employer/employee relationship was in full effect at the time of your accident.
Again, though, the burden of proof lies with you, the plaintiff, in establishing that the employer/employee relationship did, in fact, exist. There are quite a few methods we use to establish that relationship. If any of the following took place, it is likely you will be considered an employee of the company in the eyes of the court.
The employer withheld Social Security or taxes from your paycheck.
You were paid either hourly or through some sort of salary: weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.
You signed a document that in any way limited your rights, such as a form stating you read and understood the company’s employee handbook, or a form stating that you agreed to submit to a company-mandated drug test.
Your employer inspected, managed, or otherwise oversaw your work on a regular basis.
Your employer established a definitive work schedule for you. For example, you had to be at work at a certain time, were only allowed breaks at certain times, and could not leave until a certain time signified the end of the workday.
Your employer, and not yourself, was responsible for providing the tools and equipment necessary for you to perform your job.
The workers’ comp lawyers at our Law Office know how to use documented evidence, such as pay stubs, other paperwork, or the testimony of co-workers, to successfully prove the existence of an employer/employee relationship. Doing so will vastly improve your chances of winning just restitution in a personal injury lawsuit involving a non-subscribing company.
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Why You Can’t Count on OSHA to Help
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, is a federal agency that plays a vital role in trying to ensure the safety of workplace environments throughout the United States. You’ve probably seen their guidelines posted somewhere at your job, maybe in the break room or the main office. So seeing those guidelines may lead you to think that if you suffer some sort of work-related injury, you can count on OSHA to help you win any litigation that may take place. As important as that agency is, however, the unfortunate truth is it can’t really help you at all.
OSHA serves a vital role, but as vital as that role is in our country, the agency will be of no use to you in your case. OSHA investigators are stretched thin because of budgetary limitations, so there’s probably very little chance they will be able to be present at every workplace accident scene. Even if they do show up, however, their only role will be to put together a report on what happened and make recommendations to your employer on how to prevent such an incident from occurring again. This is typically a very general report used by the federal government, and normally not very specific to your case. And OSHA is not particularly concerned with who is to blame for the accident; all they want to do is enforce federal safety requirements and try to ensure that an accident doesn’t happen in the future.
OSHA’s main goal is deterrence, but even in this aspect, their hands are pretty well tied. OSHA can levy a fine against a company that violates safety regulations, but its fine schedule is seriously outdated. It hasn’t been updated since the 1960s. To put that into perspective, a gallon of gas didn’t even cost 50 cents back then. So OSHA fines normally don’t amount to much more than a slap on the wrist of the offender. The intentions of the agency are noble, but it doesn’t really have as much power as you may think. And as we already said, you can forget about OSHA being of any help in your personal injury case.
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So You’ve Suffered a Workplace Accident Injury. What Happens Next?
The workers’ comp lawyers of our Law Office have won thousands of personal injury cases and helped injury victims just like you reap millions and millions of dollars in awards, getting the compensation they deserve for the physical and emotional trauma they’ve experienced, and the medical expenses and lost wages they’ve incurred. We’d like the chance to do the same thing for you. As soon as you possibly can, call us for a confidential and free consultation regarding the specifics of your case. If you hire us, we will immediately launch a thorough investigation of all the aspects of your accident. Time is of the essence in doing so, because critical evidence can often disappear if it is not gathered quickly enough. Without that evidence, your chances of winning a lawsuit are greatly damaged.
One thing you should NEVER do when you’ve suffered an injury due to a workplace accident is to sign any sort of document that will eliminate your right to sue. You’d be surprised how many injury victims will fall victim to an aggressive insurance adjuster or defense lawyer and sign away their rights in exchange for a quick settlement. They soon realize the devastating mistake they’ve made, however, when they see what kind of pittance they’ve signed for; a pittance that won’t come anywhere close to providing them just compensation for the lost wages and medical bills they’ve incurred.
Do NOT let that happen to you. Call us as soon as you possibly can so that we can go over the details of your case, clearly spell out all of your legal options, and then get to work in order to ensure you get the just compensation for your injury that you deserve.
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Our Attorneys Explain Non-Subscriber Cases VS Workers’ Comp Subscriber Cases
When you have been injured on the job, you need help from a lawyer with workplace accident experience, so you might be able to claim the proper compensation to which you are likely entitled. Accidents at work tend to make some of the most complicated cases we see in court.
The exact way in which these issues are dealt with varies depending on a number of factors. Perhaps the biggest question is whether the employer is a non-subscriber vs workers’ comp employer. When the employer is a subscriber, then it may be that you as an employee can not sue your employer, although there could be other remedies available to you. There may also have been mitigating factors that severed the employee-employer relationship regardless of their subscriber status.
If you’ve been injured while at work, the first thing you should do is seek proper medical attention. This is your health at stake and may affect your recovery. Go see a medical professional. It is important for both your life and your lawsuit or claim. Do not worry too much about the cost. If you’re uninsured or underinsured, your medical treatment and examination may be covered by the compensation you can seek. In some cases, we are able to help you locate medical attention with the large network of medical professionals we’ve developed. They can take your financial and personal circumstances into consideration. Also, we might be able to help you see a medical doctor at no cost upfront to you. What’s more, we are able to show you how the time you take off from work to get proper medical care may be covered by the defendant or workers’ comp. Once your treatment is covered, we turn our eye to your employer and other parties that may be at fault.
If the company you work for has workers’ compensation coverage – and we’ll talk much more about that further down – you will need to notify your employer immediately after the incident. Legally, you have 30 days to notify them, but many companies will try to deny benefits for an injured worker so you are best protected by reporting your medical visit as soon as possible. Furthermore, you will need to fill out a form TWCC41, and you will need to submit it to the Texas Workers’ Compensation Commission within 12 months of the date of the injury accident or you could lose your benefits. You must also be sure to follow the guidelines set forth by the doctor – who has to be in your employer’s plan – and you must answer all written requests and fill out all necessary paperwork or you may lose your benefits.
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What Makes Texas Work Injury Cases So Complex
Although workers’ comp often interferes with an injured party’s ability to get compensation, it’s not always as clear as it might seem to receive proper or fair compensation. An experienced attorney can find ways around the limits that may appear in your way. For instance, we have found that many companies will say they have workers comp insurance against accidents, when in fact they do not subscribe to it. In other cases we have handled, we discovered that, even if the employer is a subscriber, we could bring an action against liable third parties involved in the Texas workplace injury accident. Clearly, seeking legal action can be complex and may involve sifting through a large number of conflicting demands. To ensure you receive all the benefits to which you are entitled, you need the help of an attorney with experience in on the job accident litigation. The workplace injury attorneys from our Law Office can be there to help protect your rights.
What is the State’s Workers’ Compensation and How Is It Limiting?
Legally, workers’ compensation in the Lone Star state is a kind of insurance, but it’s definitely not what you think of when you think of a normal insurance plan. In our state, our workers’ compensation program is part of a statewide reform of the tort rules that were designed mainly to protect employers against lawsuits filed by their workers who get injured on the job. Tort reform in Texas arose from heavy corporate lobbying. The workers’ compensation fund in Texas is run by the state government, but the actual insurance is provided by private insurers. In Texas, employers may choose not to buy into the program; they are called non-subscribers. The issue of non-subscriber vs workers’ comp must be properly addressed as soon as possible following a work injury accident since the legal routes available to an injured worker are so drastically different depending on the answer to that question.
Workers’ compensation insurance provides a relatively limited amount of benefits to injured employees. If your employer is a subscriber to Texas’ workers’ comp insurance and you suffer an injury while at work, then you must accept the compensation the state sets, no matter who is at fault. However, such compensation is often limited and usually does not cover the entire cost of an injury in the workplace. Also, you cannot file a lawsuit against the liable company operating in Texas – whether you work in an office, a store, or on a construction site. But there may be ways around this: an experienced lawyer can help you find other responsible persons that can be sued. For example, if you are injured in a warehouse where you work, and your employer has workers’ comp, you can file a complaint against your employer. However, many warehouse accidents are the result of several parties, so you may be able to sue those other parties.
Another avenue of redressing your grievances may be that your employer was not solely responsible for your injury. You can then file a lawsuit against other parties who are responsible for your injury. For many workplace accidents, there is often more than one party, person, or entity to blame.
Multiple parties can be sued for the exact same injury. So, even though work injury law in Texas says that you cannot sue your employer, you may be able to sue others who are responsible. Let’s say that a piece of equipment has fallen and it breaks your legs. While an employer may be liable for failing to keep the workplace safe, your employer may be a subscriber company, thus immune to a lawsuit. Even if the collapse was caused in part by negligence on the company’s part, the employer can’t be sued. However, it might be that a contractor installing the equipment – be it a filing cabinet, scaffolding, a cubicle, or a store display – contributed to the collapse due to sloppy or incompetent installation. This contractor could likewise be liable for the on the job injury. Maybe the materials used to secure the item when it was installed were defective. If this is the case, the manufacturer of those materials may also be sued.
Suppose that you have been hurt by the collapse of the shelf at Costco where you work. The company that built the carrier is probably responsible. If you are injured due to a faulty shelf, you may be able to make a product liability lawsuit against the manufacturer of the shelf. In principle, although you can’t go after your employer, you may have options for compensation. Let the Texas accident lawyers help locate and bring to justice all offenders as possible.
Your employer can say they subscribe to workers’ compensation insurance when in fact they do not. Some employers might even try to pay you all the benefits you’d get under worker’s comp to promote this lie. Our lawyers can investigate your employer to determine if they really are a non-subscriber vs workers’ comp employer. When a liable employer is a non-subscriber, we can help you file a Texas personal injury lawsuit.
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The Workers’ Comp Process Is Complex
It is never easy or simple when navigating the workers’ comp insurance process in dealing with your on-the-job job injury. Companies will very often contest your claims, as will their insurer. Insurance companies are usually more interested in helping themselves than helping you because you are not the one paying their premiums. You are a liability in their financial ledger. The less that is paid to you, the more they still have.
Additionally, the burden of proof is on you. There exists a special workers’ compensation court established to hear some workers comp cases, and you have to prove your case. It’s often a complex, bureaucratic process fraught with many hazards. Your damages can be reduced by the court. The Texas work accident attorneys at our Law Office have been winning workers’ compensation cases against insurance companies for the past twenty years, and that’s why we feel it’s critical for injured parties to have representation that’s experienced and working in your interests.
How Are Benefits Limited By Workers’ Comp?
If you are hurt at work and the employer has workers’ comp accident insurance, you usually get up to 70% of your income loss, but this compensation is limited to $600 per week at the most. For example, say you are an accountant who makes $70,000 a year. If you are injured on the job and the accident was caused by the employer, you get that $600 a week for the loss of income while you are healing. But, if you have a long-term disability and the doctor says you can never go back to work, you only get $600 a week for life, even if you used to take home $1,400 per week. You can also get a lump sum of at the end of your recovery, but such payments are usually very minimal.
In addition, claims against workers’ comp do not take into account the future earning potential. Let’s say you work in a Texas Walmart while attending law school and you are seriously injured in an accident on the loading dock. It’s so bad, in fact, that you are unable to work or continue on in school. You will get only 70 percent of your salary from Walmart for the rest of your life. Your compensation is based on the life of your salary from Walmart and not the much higher average earnings you would have likely earned if you finished law school.
If the company where you work is supposed to be a subscriber, you will want to know for sure so you can seek proper legal action to pursue fair compensation. Alternatively, if one or more third parties are partly responsible for your accident, you should be able to go after them and take them to court. Our Texas on the job work accident attorneys can help build a solid case to get you the proper compensation.
Under workers’ comp, you are entitled to complete reimbursement for all your medical costs, such as the costs of medical treatment, prescription and over the counter drugs, and all the other medical supplies you need to recover from your injury. Continuing treatment and medicines are also potentially reimbursable. If you incur travel expenses in seeking medical treatment or therapy, or for your supplies and prescriptions, those may likewise be reimbursed. Workers’ compensation does not, however, include coverage or reimbursement for any pain, suffering, or similar general damages, except for that of lost income and medical expenses.
The single, most important exception to the rule that a plaintiff may not sue a subscribed employer is that you can sue a subscribed employer if you are the family member of an employee who died in a fatal work accident, provided that the employer’s gross negligence was the cause of that accident. If your case meets these two criteria, you can file a Texas wrongful death lawsuit in regular court.
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What if My Employer Is Not a Subscriber?
If the employer is not enrolled in Texas workers’ comp, you can bring a regular personal injury suit and claim damages for various injuries, such as:
Loss of income for the length of time in the hospital or out of work.
Any loss of earning capacity and long-term disability.
Your medical expenses.
Property damage incurred.
The physical pain, suffering, and emotional distress.
If your employer is a non-subscriber to workers’ compensation, they have only one legal defense known as sole proximate cause. This defense works to prove that you were solely responsible for your accident. Employers generally work towards building an argument against you that you’re the only person at fault. For example, if you have injuries in the workplace that resulted from you lifting something too heavy, your employer may argue that because you worked alone, the injury was your fault alone. Our lawyers are often able to prove the link between your innocent actions and any injuries by showing that your employer failed to provide the right safety equipment and training needed for someone to know how to lift and carry safely the heavy load. We also note that other forms of may have been exhibited by other parties also involved in the workplace injury accident in TX.
Connecting the incident to the employer in this way is often done by doing the hard legal work that’s often challenging for less experienced attorneys. This legal responsibility is not something that a less experienced attorney would likely understand as well as our lawyers. You need a lawyer who knows how to handle work-related accidents. We know how to prove to the jury that the injury was caused by negligence on the part of the employer, not you. We are dedicated to helping you seek compensation regardless of the non-subscriber vs workers’ comp status of your employer.
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Contracting vs. Employment – It Matters
Many companies mistakenly believe that instead of hiring employees, they can hire contractors in order to shy away from liability for accidents. This belief is because of the fact that Texas law expressly states that employees are generally entitled to protection from accidents, but not contractors. On the other hand, Texas law does not provide clear guidelines to determine the status of a person, whether an employee or a contractor. This means that the lawyer for you should review previous decisions to discuss whether a worker is an employee or a contractor. This is called case law and the state is very clear on this point: when it comes to civil liability, the actual work with the employer is what matters most.
Many factors can create an employment relationship. The most direct is a contract where you are employed. Another simple example is that if an employee serves, in particular, the activity of the employer. For example, a person who is working in a Gap, wearing a Gap name tag, and is serving customers in a Gap, then the person is a Gap employee, despite the absence of an agreement saying so.
In most cases, the determination between a contractor and an employee is not so simple. In these situations, we have listed a number of conditions to determine your relationship with your current employer:
The worker works for a lot of clients: If a plumber is working on various projects for several clients, he is a plumbing contractor. If he works on many buildings for one client, he is an employee.
The worker must use their own tools: If the employee is responsible for their own tools and equipment, a worker is a contractor. If the employer has the tools and equipment with which the employee works, he’s an employee.
The worker is paid at the end of a project: If the worker is paid at the end of the project, the worker is a contractor. If the employee pays the wages per hour or per year, the worker is an employee.
The worker has his work managed at various stages of completion: If the employer must take account of a project at different stages of completion, the worker is an employee. If the employer takes into account solely the finished product, the worker is a contractor.
When the worker gets to decide how long to spend on each project: If the employee cannot determine the time it takes for a particular project, the worker is not a contractor.
When you take a worker from another agency, the rules for determining the relationship may be similar, but there are fundamental differences. The conditions are:
Worker’s employer has the right to hire or fire: If the employer who borrows can fire an employee at any time, the worker is an employee.
The employer has the right to choose a particular employee whose employer: If this is the case, it’s an employee relationship.
When the borrowed employee is responsible for supplying their own tools, the worker is a contractor. If the employer provides tools for the job, the worker is employed.
The borrower cannot replace an employee with another employee at any time: If this is the case, the worker is a contractor.
When the employer borrows the worker for some unspecified time: If an employee has borrowed the worker for the length of the project only, the project worker is a contractor.
The worker is taken because of a specific skill: If a computer repair company borrows and expert on fiber optics, the worker is a contractor. However, if an employer has the employee fill a position that anyone can fill, then the worker is an employee.
Where the employer is liable for the income tax and social security: If the borrower pays for services and income, that the worker is employed. If the employer does not have this responsibility, while the worker is a contractor.
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Our Texas Work Accident Law Firm is Ready to Help You Seek Compensation
Our lawyers can help you find just compensation if you are injured at work. If the employer has state workers ‘comp insurance’ – or when the employer does not – we can help you obtain compensation.
We can also help you identify third parties who may be liable and therefore financially responsible. Even when these third parties are liable only on the basis of unclear legal theories, we can help. If the employer does not have accident insurance, we can help build a strong and complete case against non-subscribers, and we can fight against defense lawyers, who will work to shed liability. We also thoroughly investigate your employer to determine whether or not they are a non-subscriber vs workers’ comp employer. Before talking to the insurance company, accepting a commitment fee from the company or trying to sue on your own, contact our Texas work injury attorneys to learn more about your legal options and the possible value of your case or claim.
Our Texas workplace accident law firm is often able to obtain compensation for injured workers that less experienced lawyers have refused to help. We recently dealt with a case in which a worker was injured at work, and he had signed a contract saying he was only a contractor working there. More than half a dozen different law firms said that it was not a good case. Our Law Office, however, established a working relationship and eventually won a seven-figure settlement.
Our Texas on-the-job accident lawyers bring to the table decades of experience. We have successfully handled hundreds of occupational injury cases in Texas and throughout the country. We have gone against nearly all major insurers. Defense attorneys know and respect our name. They know that we care about our clients’ rights and will fight relentlessly to protect their interests. They are often afraid to take our lawyers in court. We may be able to obtain a just compensation without the need to use the courtroom, but we are willing and ready to fight aggressively for you in court when necessary. We do everything we can to ensure that you have a fair compensation for your injuries. To learn more about your possible legal options following a work accident injury in Texas, call us for a legal consultation at no cost to you.
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