Allen Work Injury Lawyer

If you have been injured on the job in the state of Texas, more than likely you have many questions. Questions such as:

• Who is responsible?
• How can I get medical help?
• How will I pay my bills?

We know that some work injury victims are trying to make a decision on whether they need legal representation or in some instances; the company where they work has made it abundantly clear that they will not be helping the victim, so the accident victim truly has no choice but to get local representation to help them in their case. No matter which instance you are in, our Allen work injury lawyers can help you. The skilled team at Grossman Law Offices can help you answer your questions. We can also help you get the compensation you deserve for your injuries. Call us today toll free at 1-855-326-0000 for a free and confidential consultation about the specifics in your case.

The following article is provided by Allen work injury lawyer Michael Grossman and will provide some of the basic information you will need about work injury laws. It will be very general in nature and is not meant to be a substitute for legal help in your case. Do not hesitate to call us if you have questions about your case which have not been answered.

WORK INJURY LAWS IN TEXAS

The laws that cover work related injuries in Texas can be complicated and often times have overlapping areas and many technicalities. Because of the complex nature of this type of law, you will need the help of an experienced law firm so you can receive the full and fair compensation you deserve for your work related injuries.

To understand the complex nature of Texas on-the-job injury law, it is vital to have a basic understanding of what the law involves. Work related injuries in Texas fall into two categories:

• Injuries that are covered by worker’s compensation insurance
• Injuries that are not covered by worker’s compensation insurance

Your rights can change dramatically depending on the involvement or non-involvement in the worker’s compensation program by your employer. The circumstances of your employer’s involvement in a worker’s compensation program might also determine the type of lawyer you will need, any possible limit on the compensation you can get, the method of representing you and establishing the liability of your employer, who is eligible to receive compensation, and a variety of other circumstances.

WHAT IS WORKER’S COMPENSATION?

The Texas Worker’s Compensation Act was passed several years ago by lawmakers although Texas does not require companies to carry worker’s compensation insurance. There are benefits to a company that carries worker’s compensation insurance. The main benefit is that a company that carries worker’s compensation insurance on their employees cannot be sued by their employees or the bereaved family of a deceased employee in the event that one of their employees has a workplace accident that causes injury or death, with the exception being if the death was caused by an employer’s gross negligence. Because of this, an employee that is injured on the job cannot seek compensation for their injuries, except through the worker’s compensation policy.

The Texas worker’s compensation law acts much more favorably toward an employer than it does toward an employee. The law sets a limit on the amount of money that an injured victim or a bereaved family can receive for a work injury. For example, lost wages are only reimbursed up to seventy percent of the wages that are lost if an accident victim is unable to return to work while recuperating from their injury. There is also a maximum amount of $600 per week for lost wages. This low amount can be very difficult for a victim that has suffered an injury that prevents the victim from returning to work and will mean that the victim will receive this small sum of money per week for the rest of their lives. Worker’s compensation policies take into consideration the cost of medical treatment, prescription and over-the-counter drugs, and medical supplies but do not consider compensation for things like pain and suffering.

Additionally, seeking compensation for a workplace accident through a worker’s compensation claim can be very time-consuming because of the huge amount of paperwork, tight deadlines, and insurance claims adjusters that are working diligently to deny your claim based on any kind of evidence they might find and use for the insurance company holding the worker’s compensation policy. Sometimes a claim will be contested in a special worker’s compensation court. You will have to prove your damages by justifying the amount you are seeking for your injury and other financial losses. If you do not have legal representation, you will more than likely end up with very little or no compensation. Allen work injury lawyer Michael Grossman can help you if this is true in your case. The skilled team of legal professionals at Grossman Law Offices can work to prove your damages, so that you can receive the full and fair compensation you deserve in your worker’s compensation claim.

It might look like there are factors that can limit your efforts in getting compensation through a worker’s compensation claim in Texas, there are, however, other possible legal ways that could make up the difference between the amount of compensation you can receive through a worker’s compensation claim and the actual amount of compensation you deserve for your financial losses.

The one exception involved in Texas worker’s compensation law could be applicable, depending on the specifics of a workplace accident. The exception comes when an employee dies due to the negligence of the employer and allows the deceased’s family to file a lawsuit against the employer regardless of their worker’s compensation status. This can be achieved through a wrongful death lawsuit. In a wrongful death lawsuit the damages we mentioned previously can be sought in addition to damages such as pain and suffering and other damages which are known as survival damages. These damages can be sought on behalf of the lost love one. Proving gross negligence is a high standard of proof, so you will need an experienced Allen wrongful death lawyer such as Michael Grossman to be on your side so you can receive the full and fair compensation you deserve in this instance.

Also, a work related accident sometimes occurs due to other causes, or because of other responsible parties. In a case such as this, other responsible parties such as a coworker, some type of outside entity, or the manufacturer of a defective safety device can all be held responsible for an accident in a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit. Even though you may not be able to sue an employer, you can file a lawsuit against any other liable party that might have contributed to your accident. When Grossman Law Offices is contacted to help an accident victim that has been injured on the job, we will conduct a thorough investigation into the accident, when necessary, to be able to identify each party that could be responsible and the role each might have played in the accident. In the case that multiple parties bear some responsibility for your accident, we can seek legal action against each of these parties so you can get the full and fair compensation from every liable party responsible for your injuries or your loss.

WHAT IS A NONSUBSCRIBER EMPLOYER?

A company that has chosen not to carry worker’s compensation insurance is known as a nonsubscriber. Nonsubscriber cases are different from a worker’s compensation insurance case because of the nature of the Texas Worker’s Compensation Act and the immunity guaranteed to employers that carry worker’s compensation insurance. The Act also has provisions that provide consequences to any nonsubscriber employer by removing several legal defenses and not placing a limit on the amount of compensation that can be recovered by a workplace accident victim.

This difference in the Texas Worker’s Compensation Act has given rise to a group of defense attorneys that do nothing but help nonsubscriber employers. Very often they are the most aggressive defense attorneys in the industry. From the time they begin to work for a nonsubscriber employer, their only objective is to show that the accident was caused by the victim or another party and to build a case against you.

Defense attorneys in these types of case have one defensive they use known as the sole proximate cause defense. If the defense attorneys can prove that an injured or killed employee bears sole responsibility for an accident, they can get the employer release from any liability at all. Very often this means they will question an employee’s ability to do their job correctly. This can be extremely difficult for a family that has lost a loved one because of a fatal workplace accident as their loved one’s reputation is drug through the mud and is not there to defend themselves against the accusations. When this happens, it is vital to have relevant evidence and witness testimony in order to build a strong to speak for the loved one that was lost. With our more than two decades of experience in wrongful death cases and in litigating cases against non-subscribing employers, we can help you get the full and fair compensation you deserve from an employer that has been negligent.

WHY WOULD AN EMPLOYER BE A NONSUBSCRIBER?

Employers can spend a great deal of money on the insurance premiums involved in worker’s compensation insurance and often an employer will try to save money by not subscribing to worker’s compensation insurance. It boils down to the fact that they would rather save money than to provide their workers with worker’s compensation insurance.

There are employers that might have a legitimate excuse to be a nonsubscriber, in instances such as office employees who face very little danger of injury much less a catastrophic injury. It has been our experience however; that most of the companies we have taken action against were nonsubscribers because of money-saving efforts and these employers can get very creative in attempting to avoid responsibility in the case of an on-the-job accident.

WHY WOULD AN EMPLOYER PRETEND TO BE COVERED BY WORKER’S COMPENSATION INSURANCE?

You probably have a pretty good understanding of the reasons that a company might pretend like they are covered by worker’s compensation insurance when all in all reality they are not now that we have discussed the differences in the laws covering companies with and without worker’s compensation insurance. Some companies though, will pretend to be subscribers in an attempt to prevent lawsuits from being filed against them. It is possible that even the managers or supervisors do not know of a company’s actual worker’s compensation status or they might pretend to not know a company’s status so they can prevent a lawsuit from being brought against the company. There are other times that a company official will even lie about the company’s status and try to pay you some type of compensation out of their own money and tell you it is coming from the worker’s compensation insurance so you will think the employer has immunity to a lawsuit. This compensation will be much less than the amount available in an actual lawsuit.

Finding out if your employer is covered by worker’s compensation insurance can be a difficult process and an accident victim or the bereaved family of an accident victim might not be able to find out at all since it is in the company’s best interests to keep their subscriber status hidden. This means that contacting an experienced Allen worked injury lawyer like the lawyers at Grossman Law Offices can be very beneficial in finding out the truth of whether or not an employer is covered by worker’s compensation insurance policies. Finding the truth about a company’s subscriber of nonsubscriber status will allow a victim or a victim’s families to take the steps that needed in order to receive the full and fair compensation they deserve for their injury or loss.

CAN YOU HELP ME IF I’M NOT TECHNICALLY AN EMPLOYEE?

This is another instance where you will need the experience of an Allen work injury lawyer. Some employers will hire workers as contract labor so they can try to avoid responsibility in the case of a work related injury. Some may believe that these workers will not be able to get compensation for their injuries because contractors are responsible for their own safety on a job site. This is the reason that companies that have dangerous work sites, such as construction companies, often employ contractors. It might be technically true that a contractor, volunteer, or temporary employee cannot sue in the case of an workplace injury, there are specifics that an employer must follow in order to show that a worker’s contract status is legitimate. If you are in contractor and have been injured on the job, it might still be possible that a liable employer can be held responsible for their negligence in the event that an employer/employee relationship can be established, no matter how an employer terms their workers. For example, if any of these circumstances can be established, then an employee/employer relationship can very likely be proven:

• If the employer withheld Social Security or taxes from your paycheck.
• If you signed any type of documentation, like an employee handbook, that limits your rights.
• If you worked a set schedule given to you by your employer.
• If your work was supervised or inspected by your employer as it was ongoing.
• If your employer provided tools or material for your work.
• If you were hired indefinitely or without a specific job.
• If you were paid an hourly wage and not per job.

Allen work injury lawyer Michael Grossman has helped workers injured on the job, and their families, get compensation from negligent employers for more than 20 years, even if the victim was considered a contractor, by helping to prove a victim’s status as an employee so the parties responsible can be held accountable.

CAN GROSSMAN LAW OFFICES HELP ME IF I HAVE BEEN INJURED ON THE JOB?

Seeking medical help should be your first step if you have been injured in a workplace accident. If you are afraid of the financial burden of getting medical help, contact our offices at 1-855-326-0000 toll-free. We might be able to assist you in getting medical help that could cost you nothing. We are in contact with a network of doctors and other medical professionals that will take into consideration your financial situation. Also, the medical bills that you have incurred or will incur and any wages you have lost from taking time off of work could be compensated for in your personal injury case.

Do not sign away your rights so that you can get a quick settlement from an insurance company or your employer. This fast cash might look good immediately after an accident but this type of settlement is usually very low when compared to the settlement that you might receive through the proper legal action. This settlement might also not account for the full extent of your damages if they are not currently known. You might be greatly under compensated for the injuries that you have sustained. When you sign a settlement agreement, there is not much a legal professional can do to get any more compensation from a party that is liable in your work injury case. Contact Grossman Law Offices before you sign any settlement documents so you will not be taken advantage of by an insurance claims adjuster and so you can receive the full and fair compensation you deserve for your injuries or loss.

It is extremely important to contact Grossman Law Offices as quickly as possible after you have been injured in an Allen workplace injury or if you have lost a loved one due to fatal workplace injuries in order for your case to be a success. This will allow us to begin investigating an accident site as quickly as possible so evidence can be gathered and witness testimony can be taken. Evidence can go missing or it can be manipulated or erased by parties that do not want to be held responsible for their negligence. With more than twenty years of investigative experience, Grossman Law Offices is ready to come to an accident scene so that every party that is responsible for your accident can be identified and held accountable. Contact Allen work injury lawyer Michael Grossman and his skilled team at Grossman Law Offices at 1-855-326-0000 toll-free for a free and confidential consultation. We can discuss your possible legal options so you will have the best opportunity possible to receive the full and fair compensation that you deserve for your injuries or loss.

By E. Michael Grossman