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Practice Area

Workplace Injuries

Texas lets most private employers decide whether to carry workers’ compensation insurance, so the same injury can lead to different legal paths depending on the employer. Leatherwood & Schindler confirms coverage status, identifies every company on the worksite, and gathers the records before choosing a path.

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The first question is the employer’s coverage status

In Texas, most private employers may choose whether to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Employers that carry it are called subscribers; employers that do not are non-subscribers. Public employers must carry coverage, and private employers on building or construction projects for a governmental entity generally must cover the employees on that project. Because the choice belongs to the employer, two people hurt the same way at neighboring worksites can be in different legal positions, and nothing about the injury itself reveals which one applies.

That is why Leatherwood & Schindler begins a workplace matter by confirming the employer’s coverage status rather than assuming a system. The answer determines whether the employer relationship runs through the workers’ compensation system, through a negligence claim against a non-subscribing employer, or through another arrangement, and it shapes how the firm approaches every other company on the site.

How coverage status is checked

The Texas Department of Insurance, through its Division of Workers’ Compensation, maintains the official ways to verify coverage. An employer insured through a licensed carrier can be checked through the verification service that the Division publishes. Certified self-insured employers appear on one official list, self-insured governmental employers on another, and employers that have filed as non-subscribers on a registered list. When those tools do not settle the question, the Division accepts verification requests that identify the employer, its address, and the date of injury.

Employers are also required to tell their workers whether they carry coverage, both when a person is hired and by posting a notice at the workplace. A photograph of that posted notice, or the written notice received at hiring, is one of the simplest and most useful documents an injured worker can keep. The firm confirms status through the official sources as part of its first review.

Why the status changes the questions

When an employer carries coverage, Texas law generally makes workers’ compensation benefits the exclusive remedy against that employer for a work injury, subject to narrow exceptions that counsel reviews. The benefits system has its own procedures and deadlines, and this page does not describe them. The firm does not handle workers’ compensation benefit claims.

When an employer does not carry coverage, an injured employee may bring a negligence claim against the employer, and Texas law removes several defenses the employer would otherwise have, including that the employee was partly at fault or accepted a known risk. The employee still has to prove that the employer, or someone acting for it, was negligent. Neither situation produces an automatic claim. The firm evaluates each from the actual facts.

Houston worksites involve several companies

A Houston-area worksite, whether a construction project, a plant, a warehouse, a yard, or a service operation, often involves a property owner or operator, a general contractor, subcontractors, staffing companies, equipment owners and lessors, manufacturers, and vendors. Each company has a role defined by contracts, scopes of work, and the control it exercised over the work, the area, the equipment, and the procedures.

Those relationships matter because the legal analysis differs by company. Some written arrangements make a general contractor the employer of a subcontractor’s workers for workers’ compensation purposes, which changes the analysis for those companies.

Texas law also limits when a property owner is responsible to a contractor’s employees for a condition of the property, generally requiring both control over how the work was performed and actual knowledge of the danger. Unsafe conditions on a site, whether housekeeping, access, guarding, or lighting, are evaluated against who controlled that area and what they knew. The firm maps the companies and their roles before it forms a view about any of them.

Third-party questions run on a separate track

Texas law allows an injured worker to pursue a claim against a third party who is liable for the injury while also claiming workers’ compensation benefits, and the workers’ compensation carrier then has an interest in any recovery. Identifying whether such a third party exists is a separate inquiry from the employer questions above, with its own evidence, and third-party workplace claims are explained in depth on their own. The employer’s coverage and a potential third-party claim need separate review.

Records that explain the work

The useful record depends on the work and the mechanism of injury. It can include:

  • the employer’s incident and first reports;
  • job safety analyses;
  • permits to work;
  • pre-shift and toolbox-talk records;
  • training records;
  • lockout and tagout records;
  • equipment inspection and maintenance files;
  • rental agreements;
  • contracts and scopes of work;
  • shift schedules and production records;
  • site photographs and video.

Private-sector workplaces in Texas fall under federal OSHA, while state and local government workplaces do not, and covered employers must report a work-related fatality to OSHA within eight hours and an in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye within twenty-four hours. Those are employer duties, not deadlines for an injured worker. When OSHA inspects, its file becomes a record source. An OSHA citation, or the absence of one, is evidence that counsel weighs; it does not decide a civil claim.

Worksites change

Conditions at a worksite are repaired, moved, or completed as work continues, and site video is rarely kept for long. What the worker kept often outlasts the site itself: photographs, the names of the companies whose logos appeared on hard hats, trucks, and equipment, the names of witnesses, the posted coverage notice, and a written account of the work being performed. The firm asks for those first and then asks each company, by name, to keep what it holds.

Which page addresses your worksite

Before the first conversation

Four facts let the firm start:

  • the employer’s name and address;
  • the date of injury;
  • whether a coverage notice was posted;
  • the other companies that were on site.

Add any incident report and the medical care so far if they are available. With those facts the firm confirms coverage status, begins mapping the companies, and tells you which track each question belongs on.

Questions clients often ask

Workplace Injuries FAQs

Does every Texas workplace injury go through workers’ compensation?

No. Most private employers in Texas may choose whether to carry workers’ compensation insurance, while public employers must carry it. An employer’s choice determines whether the employer relationship runs through the benefits system or through a negligence claim against a non-subscribing employer, and it shapes how every other company on the site is approached. That is why coverage status is the first fact the firm confirms.

How can I find out whether my employer has workers’ compensation coverage?

The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation, maintains the official tools. Employers insured through a licensed carrier can be checked through the verification service the Division publishes; certified self-insured employers, self-insured governmental employers, and registered non-subscribers appear on separate official lists; and the Division accepts verification requests that identify the employer, its address, and the date of injury. Employers must also post a notice at the workplace and tell new hires in writing whether they carry coverage.

What is a third party in a workplace injury case?

A company or person other than the employer whose conduct may have contributed to the injury, such as a contractor, a property owner or operator, an equipment owner or manufacturer, or a vendor. Texas law allows an injured worker to pursue a liable third party while also claiming workers’ compensation benefits. Whether such a party exists is a separate factual and legal question with its own evidence, and the firm reviews it as a third-party workplace claim.

Why do contractor, owner, and staffing relationships matter so much?

Because the legal analysis differs by company. Contracts and scopes of work define what each company controlled; some arrangements make a general contractor the statutory employer of a subcontractor’s workers for workers’ compensation purposes; and Texas law limits when a property owner is responsible to a contractor’s employees for a condition of the property. The firm maps the companies and their roles before forming a view about any of them.

Does an OSHA investigation decide who was responsible?

No. Private-sector workplaces in Texas fall under federal OSHA, which enforces workplace safety standards; state and local government workplaces do not. When OSHA inspects, its file becomes a record source, and a citation, or the absence of one, is evidence that counsel weighs alongside the rest of the record. The civil question is decided on the whole record.

Which page should I read for a construction, refinery, oilfield, explosion, or chemical incident?

Construction projects, refineries and process facilities, and onshore oilfield and wellsite operations each have their own records. Explosions and chemical exposures also require an investigation of the mechanism of injury. All of these matters share questions about coverage and the companies involved.