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Workplace Accidents – Workers Comp
You need to know your Texas employer’s workers’ comp status. It determines your legal options regarding what typically begins as your insurance claim. An employer that has workers’ comp is called a subscriber. An employer who does not have such liability coverage is labeled a non-subscriber. Knowing that simple fact makes a big difference in your case and determines how we approach it. It determines the starting point in how your claim is filed and what compensation you may be entitled to receive. The correct answer about whether an employer is a subscriber or a non-subscriber to Texas workers’ comp law is not always forthcoming. Very often, employees of a company don’t even know. Sometimes employers give the wrong answer when asked. Sometimes the answer to the question is unclear, and sometimes the company doesn’t have a clear-cut policy for dealing with accidents on the job. Workers’ comp is an expensive program, and some companies choose not to buy it, reasoning that they can save money as long as no one is injured. If they were smart, they’d look at their business like all successful people when they financially protect their homes and heart. The first check every month goes to the mortgage company. The second goes for insurance. That’s an intelligent plan. Even if it’s not cheap, workers’ comp rates, across the board, are less than market rates, even if the cost of workers’ comp for an employer is related to how risky the job is: the same holds true for commercial underwriters; just higher premiums. However, inevitably there will be an accident that produces serious injuries. As a workplace attorney with over two decades of experience working on behalf of scaffolding accident victims, our falling accident work attorneys have encountered situations where companies have blatantly answered falsely when asked if they are a subscriber to Texas workers’ comp. When the odds catch up with these “subscribers in sheep’s clothing,” they try to avoid a lawsuit when there’s a severe injury. These employers may quickly pay victims’ benefits from workers’ comp and ask them to sign what they may represent as a “standard workers’ comp release” to further their deception and get off the hook. Some of these forged forms look pretty professional too. But it’s a trick, so don’t fall for it. More on this webpage
Sometimes Workers’ Comp Benefits Work Well: Especially if Viewed as a Compensation Foundation, Workers’ comp benefits originate from a “pool” of funds. The pool is replenished by private insurance carriers that participate in the program. It protects subscriber-employers from lawsuits and disregards employees’ legal rights to be fairly compensated in the case of severe injury when the employer is truly negligent. This is because it limits, or “caps,” the monetary compensation an injured employee can receive. Suppose your employer subscribes to workers’ comp. In that case, it provides some reimbursement to injured employees who are hurt on the job site: primarily expenses directly linked to medical bills and compensation for a certain amount of lost income during recovery. It’s “no-fault” insurance because those covered by workers’ comp are reimbursed, no matter how the accident occurred or whose fault it was. Often, the amount you receive doesn’t cover the expenses of an on-the-job injury, especially if it is severe. On the other hand, to receive restitution from a non-subscriber to workers’ comp, an injury victim must file a lawsuit in civil court. Fortunately, for the injured party, the prerequisites that encourage companies to subscribe to “no-fault” workers’ comp insurance are somewhat relaxed. These same lower standards of proving subscriber negligence also apply against a non-subscriber in a civil case. So it’s not as difficult to lay the true liability at the feet of a non-subscribing employer for serious on-the-job accidents. This is what we meant when suggesting that your construction site falling injury lawyer knows how to work both sides of the workers’ comp street to get to the bottom of your injury compensation status. That’s because there’s a trump card to all of this. It surrounds third parties to your scaffold or another fall injury. If workers’ comp creates a void between what you’re getting and what you need to recover, third-party defendants who had a hand in your injury could be exposed to our filing insurance claims or lawsuits against them. Rare is there a time when a single negligent act contributes to your injuries and massive expenses like medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages, and rightful disability payments. Those same damages, and more, are available to the surviving family members of a loved one who was fatally injured in a scaffold or some other construction fall. Often, a total compensation package finds workers’ comp is the foundation and a successful third party claim or (judgments) to bringing the total damages received to a more appropriate level as the best legal recourse is available to seriously injured workers like you. you. Once we identify the nature of your employer’s workers’ comp standing and conduct a thorough investigation of all facets and parties involved, we can move forward to secure your fair injury and damage compensation.