Answer These 3 Questions!

• Do I have long-term injuries? (Injuries that you’ll have to deal with the rest of your life!)
• Is your employer a Texas Non-subscriber?
• Did my Employer’s Negligence cause my injuries?

Is My Employer Really a Texas Non-Subscriber?

First of all, I’m sure that you are overwhelmed trying to determine what rights you may have in your injury case. There is help and you simply need to do your research or just call us! As you do your research, you will see this over and over again, you need to determine if your employer is a Texas Worker’s Compensation “Subscriber” or a “Non-subscriber”. If you’ve been injured on the job and so far, an insurance company is “helping you” get to the doctor for medical treatment, you do not necessarily know which of the two Texas legal systems you are in. You need to dig deeper!

Read also: Not Your Typical Texas Workers’ Compensation Case

The Two Workers’ Compensation Cases: Subscriber vs. Non-Subscriber

Essentially, I describe the Texas Worker’s Compensation case as an informal claim wherein you have the ability to fight for benefits but, you are limited to what you can get under the worker’s compensation laws. Even if you feel that the decisions that are being made about your benefits are not in your favor, you do not have right to file a lawsuit against your employer. You have other administrative remedies that would require you to seek counsel from a Texas Worker’s Compensation lawyer handling subscriber claims.

The Texas Non-Subscriber Compensation case is vastly different because its existence is founded on saving money for the employer and insurance company that they are normally not able to save under the Texas worker’s compensation program. If you’re injured on the job and, from the beginning you know where the insurance company is going to take you, you would be less likely willing to participate in the process of going to the doctors that the insurance company is sending you to. The reason? Why would you waste time going to a doctor that provides care based on what an insurance company approves and not what he feels you need to get better and back to work? In the end, the insurance company doesn’t even care that all you want to do is get better and back to work! All that matters is saving money by not approving treatment that may be necessary. So, if you can assume that this system is not made to help the injured worker, you need to be doing your research early and figure out if you have a case where you need legal counsel to help you navigate the pitfalls of the system. You don’t want to wait until you’ve been doing pointless therapy for months and now your employer is cutting your hours! You need to start early so you have the best change of a positive outcome in your case!

How do I figure out if My Employer is a Texas Worker’s Compensation Non-Subscriber?

Some companies are known Texas Worker’s Compensation Non-subscribers. If you work for any of the employers below, your employer is a Texas Non-subscriber:

Texas Non-Subscribers Companies

Confirm Your Employer’s Non-Subscriber Status Yourself

You can search your Employer’s Name on the Texas Department of Workers’ Compensation Website. Don’t worry, they will not find out. You can run a search on TDI’s website and by name and date of the incident and see if your employer has coverage. https://www.tdi.texas.gov/wc/employer/coverage.html

I few helpful tips are that you need to do your best to make sure you get your employer’s name is spelled correctly. You can use a check stub or a DWC-73 (Work Status Report) to determine exactly what the name is that your employer is insured under. If you employer does not show up here, it very possible that they are a Texas Non-subscriber employer.

Another thing that you can do is to simply call the Texas Department of Insurance Division of Worker’s Compensation and ask the representative to search for your employer and see if they are a subscriber. You can get a hold of the Division of Workers’ Compensation by calling 1-800-252-7031.

Why Is Negligence Necessary in a Texas Non-Subscriber Case?

In short, you need to show negligence to establish a case against your employer following a denial of benefits (Adverse Benefit Determination) or a failure to pay full benefits under your employer’s insurance plan.

Assuming the following factors are true:

• You’ve suffered a long-term serious injury that is always going to have an impact on my life.
• Your employer is a Texas Non-Subscriber.

How do you determine if your employer’s negligence caused your injury. There are a few questions you can ask but it really boils down to whether your employer failed to provide a reasonably safe workplace? As the employee, were you provided:

• The tools and equipment necessary to do your job safely?
• The assistance necessary to do the job safely?
• The work and safety training necessary to do the job safely?
• Additional training necessary to confront a new risk in your job?
• The proper supervision?

Most of the time, you should be able to tell if your employer failed to provide a safe workplace by looking closely at why the incident occurred. If you’re confident that your Texas Non-subscriber employer was negligent and it resulted in your serious injury, then you likely have a Texas Non-Subscriber case that gives you a fighting chance! Even if you’re not sure whether your employer was negligent, you should consult a work injury attorney! Don’t risk it and remember that time is of the essence!

Don’t Wait to Get Stuck in Mud In Your Work Injury Claim!

Don’t take any chances and don’t delay! The destination often reached by injured workers in the Texas Non-Subscriber case is:

• Delays in Filing a Report
• Delays in Receiving Proper Treatment
• Delays in Approving Major Medical Exams or Procedures (MRIs, Injections, Required Surgery)
• Being forced to work while your injured
• Cuts in your hours at work
• Denial of your work injury claim
• Termination from your job because you can’t perform the job duties.

Once you suffer a serious work injury, your life will never going to be the same. At Sandoval Law Firm, PLLC, as your attorney, I will make sure that you understand your rights and what we will do to make sure that you get fairly compensated. I will work very hard for you and I will make sure that expectations are set from the beginning.

An attorney-client relationship is built on trust and confidence, and I take this very seriously. If you’ve been injured at work working for a non-subscriber, do your research!