What is an IME? If you’ve been injured working for a Texas Non-Subscriber employer, you may have received some treatment and then you’ve been asked to go see a doctor for an Independent Medical Examination or an IME. What is an IME? First of all, it’s not INDEPENDENT in any sense of the word. It’s the set-up. This is a Defense ordered and payed medical examination where essentially you are going to see a “doctor” for the first time and he is going to answer some questions asked by the insurance company. For example, whether your injury is related to the work accident or whether, at this stage ... Continue Reading

The truth hurts. In a nutshell, the adjuster in your case is delaying your treatment because they don’t want to have documented evidence of your injury. Approving tests that confirm that an injury is work related is not in the best interest of your employer and of the insurance company. This is also why the adjuster tells you that you cannot go see your own doctor. Well, you really can but, it will be at your expense. It’s not always possible to go see your own doctor and so an injured employee usually elects to wait for approval of the recommended tests, like an MRI. Remember that insurance ... Continue Reading

If your employer is a Texas Non-Subscriber, your treatment will be determined by what benefits you have in your employer EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLAN. Either at the time that you hired on with your employer or, when your employer purchased their non-subscriber work injury insurance, your employer asked that you sign some insurance paperwork. Usually, at that time, you would have received the employee version of the PLAN called the SUMMARY PLAN DESCRIPTION. As part of this insurance arrangement, you very likely also signed an agreement to arbitrate any work injury dispute with your employer. In ... Continue Reading

If you are reading this, then chances are that you have been injured on the job and you’re not quite sure what kind of coverage your employer will have. Generally speaking, if you have been receiving some type of medical attention and you’ve been speaking with an insurance agent along the way, your employer has one of two possible insurance coverages: Your Employer has Texas Workers’ Compensation, or Your Employer is a Texas NON-SUBSCRIBER. If your employer has Texas Workers’ Compensation, then, determining what rights you have will be dependent on the Texas Workers’ Compensation ... Continue Reading

If you’ve been injured working for a Texas Non-Subscriber, don’t make the mistake of thinking that you don’t need to seek legal advice until your treatment or benefits are denied. Time is not your friend. Some Texas Non-Subscriber employers provide wage and health benefits right until after the statute of limitations for the injury expires and you know longer have a right to file a lawsuit against them. They figure that if they keep you happy, by providing benefits, you won’t have any reason to think that you should sue your employer for injuries and limitations that you may still have. Once ... Continue Reading

Suffering an injury at work has numerous consequences! And, without sound legal advice, you’re putting your future at risk! Who pays your wages and the doctors’ bills? What if you have to live with this injury for the rest of your life? In Texas, coverage for work injuries depends on Employer status: Are they a Texas Non-Subscriber? Are they Texas Self-Insured?Do they have Texas Worker’s Compensation?Or, are they UNINSURED? Texas Work Injury Attorney Hector Sandoval represents injured workers employed by Texas Non-Subscriber Companies. A Texas Non-Subscriber Employer is a company that ... Continue Reading

If it looks like Workers’ Comp and it sounds like Workers’ Comp, it must be Workers’ Comp right? TOTALLY WRONG! Your Employer Could be a Texas Non-Subscriber or could Self-Insured! Walmart does not have Workers' Compensation! H-E-B does not have Workers' Compensation! Amazon does not have Workers' Compensation! Lowe's does not have Workers' Compensation! Target does not have Workers' Compensation, and so many more! Even if your employer, the insurance company and the doctors call it workers’ compensation, you could have rights to file a lawsuit against your employer if their ... Continue Reading

When you’ve suffered a serious injury at work, the last thing you want to hear is that you can’t get medical care because the insurance hasn’t approved it! It’s not be accident that the employer, the insurance adjuster and the doctors all seem to be taking their time! The reason? It’s simple, the goal is for everyone to be on the same page as to how they are going to defend your case. Now this isn’t the case all the time. There are some companies do make their best effort to get injured employees the treatment they need. Unfortunately, their best efforts can also fall short or, they can derail ... Continue Reading