San Antonio Workers' Comp Lawyer

Michael Grossman, San Antonio Work Accident Injury Lawyer, Explains Workers' Compensation When Injured On The Job

Being hurt on the job is never an easy experience. Unfortunately, employers often make the process even more complicated for victims of work-related injuries. Workers’ compensation laws are complex, and filing a work injury lawsuit is a highly technical process.

Work injury lawsuits in Texas often involve workers’ compensation, which may provide your employer with immunity to lawsuits. Injured workers often have a number of misconceptions about work injury law (along with many inexperienced work injury attorneys). Unscrupulous employers will take advantage of this, and countless injured workers have been taken advantage of, simply due to the complexities of the system.

Fortunately for you, San Antonio workers' comp lawyer Michael Grossman at Grossman Law Offices has extensive experience with work injury cases, and he understands Texas workers’ compensation law inside and out. He is here to clear up some of the common misconceptions surround workers’ compensation and work injury law in Texas, and he can advise you on how best to handle your specific case. At Grossman Law Offices, we are dedicated to helping you receive the compensation you deserve for your workplace injuries.

What Exactly is Workers’ Compensation?

This question is possibly the greatest source of confusion for injured workers. If you are hurt on the job, there are two possibilities: your employer has workers’ compensation insurance (we call these employers “subscribers”) or your employer does not (we call these “non-subscribers”). Whether your employer is a subscriber or a non-subscriber will play a huge part in how your case needs to be handled, but unfortunately, determining what type of case you have is not as easy as asking your employer. Many employers will try to obscure whether they have workers’ compensation insurance or not, which can allow them to escape legal liability in some situations. It is extremely important that you determine whether your employer has workers’ compensation insurance, as this will ultimately decide how much compensation you are entitled to receive. Our firm can help you investigate your employer’s situation, and determine exactly which options are available to you.

It is important to realize that, although workers’ compensation is a form of insurance, it is not like a typical insurance policy. Workers’ compensation coverage is just one part of a large bureaucratic tort reform policy. This policy establishes a fund (paid for by our tax dollars) that is regulated by the state, but administered by private insurance companies. The entire process is surrounding by red tape and obscure legal technicalities. Employers can choose whether they wish to participate in the coverage (which is expensive), but it provides employers with a large amount of legal protection that is not present in a typical insurance policy. Do not treat workers’ compensation as just another insurance policy.

Workers’ compensation insurance provides two main benefits to employers: it provides compensation for an injured employee, and it makes employers completely immune to work injury lawsuits in almost all cases (the only exception is when an employee is killed and the employer was grossly negligent, in which case, a wrongful death lawsuit may be filed). Despite common parlance, there is no workers’ compensation lawsuit. If you are injured while working for an employer who subscribes to workers’ compensation insurance, you do not have the option of filing a work injury lawsuit.

But keep in mind that, even if your employer claims to have workers’ compensation insurance, he or she may be misleading you. Furthermore, you may need an experienced lawyer to help you through the administrative process of seeking compensation through workers’ compensation insurance. This process does not culminate in a lawsuit, but it is complex nonetheless, and injured workers often do not receive the full amount they deserve due to the technical nature of the coverage. An experienced attorney can make sure that this does not happen to you. Additionally, even if your employer has workers’ compensation insurance, there are often other parties responsible for your accident. For instance, if you are hurt doing construction work, the property owner, another worker, or a product manufacturer may be partially liable. Even if you cannot bring a lawsuit against your employer, you may be able to bring a lawsuit against a third party. Our San Antonio workers' comp lawyers can help you identify and pursue claims against any additional liable parties.

What Compensation can I Expect to Receive if my Employer has Workers’ Compensation Insurance?

Without considering any lawsuits filed against third parties, you may be eligible to receive compensation from your employer’s workers’ comp coverage. You will typically receive 70% of your lost income, up to a maximum of approximately $600 per week. You may also receive compensation for your medical expenses, and a lump sum at the end of your recovery process. In many situations, this level of compensation is not adequate. For example, if you are an electrical who previously made $75,000 a year and you are eligible to receive compensation from workers’ compensation coverage, you will only receive roughly $600 per week for your lost wages – despite making approximately $1500 a week prior to your injuries.

If you are severely injured in an accident and you can no longer work, you will continue to receive compensation for the rest of your life – but only up to the $600 per week maximum. In other words, the compensation you might receive from workers’ comp benefits can be very small, and unfortunately, these payments cannot be negotiated. This is why it is imperative that, even if your employer truly has workers’ compensation insurance, you seek the help of an experienced work injury attorney. At Grossman Law Offices, we conduct a thorough investigation of our client’s cases, even when a lawsuit cannot be brought against our client’s employer. We are dedicated to finding every party responsible for your injuries so that you can receive the compensation you need to get on with your life.

Furthermore, as mentioned previously, injured workers are often lead to believe that their employers have workers compensation insurance, when in fact they do not. Particularly devious employers will even go so far as to pay for an injured worker’s medical bills and even offer the $600 per week consistent with workers’ compensation benefits. They are simply attempting to further the illusion that they are immune to lawsuits. Unfortunately, many injured workers fall for these tricks. They may research “workers’ compensation lawsuits,” realize that no such thing technically exists, and then give up. But many of these workers actually have non-subscriber cases, or have parties liable for their injuries in addition to their employers (or both). This is where an experienced lawyer can help you.

Non-Subscriber Lawsuits

Our firm can help you determine whether you have a workers’ comp case or a non-subscriber case. If the latter, you can seek compensation for many different types of damages. You can receive payments for your medical bills (both past and future), any lost wages or lost earning capacity, and even your pain and mental/emotional suffering. There is no limit to how much money you may receive if your employer does not have workers’ compensation insurance. Since they do not have the same protection as subscribers, non-subscribers only have one legal defense: they will try to prove that you were the sole cause of your own injuries.

Many employers mistakenly believe that this is an easy task. For instance, let us say that you were hurt in a lifting injury. You were probably working on your own, so your employer might think that he or she can easily prove that your injuries were your fault. An experienced work injury attorney, however, can link your employer’s negligent actions back to your injury. For example, if your employer did not provide proper training, necessary safety equipment, machinery to help lift the object safely, or another worker to help you, then your employer may be legally responsible for your injuries. Our attorneys know how to investigate situations of this sort of complexity.

Are You a General Employee or a Contract Laborer?

While you may believe that you know the answer to this question, from a legal liability standpoint, case law decides. According to Texas work injury statutes, only general employees are eligible to file work injury lawsuits. Employers who are aware of this fact hire almost exclusively contractors, thinking that this protects them from lawsuits without the fees associated with workers’ compensation insurance. This is particularly common in dangerous workplaces, such as factories and construction companies. They think that they have beaten the system: make your workers sign a contract that essentially states “I am a contractor” and then you are safe.

However, Texas statutes do not explicitly state what constitutes an employer-employee relationship. In situations like this, case law determines the relationship. Our lawyers bring up previous cases in which the worker-employer relationship was not clear. In many of these cases, judges ruled in favor of the injured worker, and these cases serve as guidelines that our attorneys can use to establish an employer-employee relationship, even where none explicitly exists on paper. In other words, you are not legally considered a contractor just because your employer says you are. The following conditions can serve to establish an employer-employee relationship, and thereby allow you to file a work injury claim.

Establishing Proof of an Employer-Employee Relationship

If a contract exists that explicitly states that the worker is an employee, then this is all the proof the worker would need. There is little an employer can do against a proof this straightforward, and the worker will (in all probability) be eligible to file a non-subscriber work injury lawsuit.

However, even if a contract exists that explicitly states that the worker is a contractor, the employer’s or the worker’s conduct can serve to establish an employer-employee relationship, regardless of any previous or current contracts. Furthermore, the worker is considered to be an employee if that worker was performing services particular to the employer’s business. For instance, if you are standing in a McDonald’s restaurant, wearing a McDonald’s shirt, serving customers their McDonald’s food, then you are a McDonald’s employee, regardless of what any contract might say (or even if there is no contract whatsoever).

But when this relationship is not so straightforward, the following actions can establish an employer-employee relationship for the purposes of legal liability. General employees (i.e. workers who are not borrowed from another agency) are considered employees if any of the following conditions are met:

• The laborer’s work is independently done: if the worker is a plumber who performs services for a number of individuals and companies, then he or she is probably a legitimate contractor. However, if the plumber works for a local utility company and only that company, then he or she is an employee.
• The injured laborer provides his or her own tools and equipment: if the worker provides his or her own tools, then he or she is probably a contractor. If the employer provides the tools, however, then the worker is likely an employee.
• The employer only examines the finished product: if the progress of a particular project is determined entirely by the worker, then the worker is probably a contractor. But if the employer regulates and manages the project at various stages of completion, then the worker is likely an employee.
• The worker determines how long the working relationship exists: if the worker is allowed to determine how long he or she works on any particular project, then he or she is probably a contractor. If, on the other hand, the worker has been hired for an indefinite period of time, then an employer-employee is probably established.
• The worker is paid per project: if the worker is paid upon completion of a project, then the worker is probably a contractor. But if the worker is paid by the hour, then he or she is probably an employee.

In cases where an employer borrows a worker from another agency or employer, then the conditions for establishing an employer-employee relationship are similar, but have some key variations. The relevant conditions are as follows:

• The borrowing employer has the right to hire or fire: if the employer borrowing the worker can hire or fire the worker at will, then the worker is probably an employee.
• The borrowing employer was allowed to select a particular worker: if the employer selected the specific worker, then the worker is likely an employee. If the lending agency could send any worker they wanted, then the worker is probably a contractor.
• The borrowed worker brings his or her own tools: if the worker owns the tools, then the worker is probably a contractor, but if the borrowing employer provides the tools, then an employer-employee relationship is likely established.
• The agency lending the worker can substitute another worker at any time: if the agency doing the lending can switch the worker whenever they like, then the worker is probably a contractor. If the lending agency does not have this right, then the worker is probably an employee.
• The borrowing employer is using the worker’s services for an unspecified length of time: if the worker is working for the borrowed employer for an indefinite amount of time, then an employer-employee relationship is probably established.
• The borrowed worker has special skills: if a boat manufacturer borrows a composite materials specialist from a company that makes surfboards, then the worker is a contractor. If, on the other hand, a company borrows a worker to fill a position that almost anyone could fill, then the worker is an employee.
• Social security and income tax: if the borrowing employer takes responsibility for paying the worker’s income tax and social security benefits, then an employer-employee relationship is established.

This may seem like a lot to take in, but the truth is that determining whether or not you have a non-subscriber case is a technical process, and it can be completely overwhelming for those without extensive experience with work injury cases. The process is particularly complex when your employer does not play along and tries to obscure whether he or she has workers’ compensation coverage. This is why you must seek help from an experienced San Antonio workers' comp lawyer as soon as possible if you are injured, and you must not sign any documents, make any statements, or accept any sort of payment until you seek legal representation.

The San Antonio work injury and workers comp lawyers of Grossman Law Offices have been helping injured workers seek compensation for twenty years. We have experience with both subscriber and non-subscriber cases, including both employees and contractors. We know how to identify whether you are eligible to file a work injury lawsuit, and we know how to identify additional potential defendants in your case so that you may receive the largest settlement possible. We have successfully investigated and resolved hundreds of high-profile work injury cases, and we have seen every trick employers have to hide their legal liability. We have also faced every major insurance carrier in the country, and their adjusters and defense lawyers are afraid of facing us in court. This means that they often cooperate fully with our settlement demands, so that we can resolve your case without even taking it to court. In other words, we can often help you get the compensation you need quickly, without the stress of filing a lawsuit. Our firm is dedicated to getting you the compensation you need and the justice you deserve, no matter what your situation is. So if you have been injured on the job, do not let your employer’s negligence (or the negligence of any other party) go unpunished. Contact experienced San Antonio workers' comp lawyer Michael Grossman from Grossman Law Offices today, and make sure your rights are well protected.