Years ago, when a worker was injured in an accident, he or she would have to sue their employer for compensation. Back then, attorneys weren’t as easy to come by as they are today. So, often it would be the “little guy” against a huge company with very deep pockets. Often, the employee would lose and they would have no way to cover their medical bills, nor would they be able to recover compensation for pain and suffering or lost income like they do today. Fortunately, lawmakers saw that this was a very broken system. Usually, the employees lost and the big employers wouldn’t have to do anything to take care of their injured workers. To protect workers, states across the country enacted workers’ compensation laws that helped injured workers out, even if they were to blame for their own injuries. As a no-fault system, injured workers could collect workers’ comp benefits regardless if the accident was their fault or their employers’ fault. There was one condition though: if a worker filed a workers’ compensation claim, they could not sue their employers.
Do All Texas Employers Have Workers’ Compensation?
While many states require virtually all private employers to carry workers’ compensation insurance, Texas is more flexible in that respect. In Texas, not all employers carry workers’ compensation coverage; however, the majority of them do have it. In order for you to collect workers’ compensation benefits, your employer must have workers’ compensation insurance. But what if they don’t? Let’s say you work for an uninsured contractor who handles small projects, or you work for a landscaping contractor who doesn’t have workers’ compensation. What if you get injured on the job? Do you have legal recourse? Essentially, if you work for someone who does not have workers’ compensation insurance, you are entitled to file a personal injury claim instead. Whenever a business fails to carry workers’ compensation insurance, the business owner is well aware that they are vulnerable to lawsuits, and their business assets cannot be protected if they are not insured. It’s a risk they choose to take and it’s not a smart one.
If your employer does not have workers’ compensation and you were injured on the job, contact our Plano personal injury firm today.
