Personal Injury Work Injury

Every year thousands of workers are killed or seriously injured on the job. Normally, Texas workers are generally "barred" from suing their employers for on-the-job injuries because their sole remedy against the employer is to make a workers’ compensation claim. However, Texas is one of a handful of states that allows employers to “opt-out” of carrying workers’ compensation insurance. Our experience representing injured workers and small businesses in Texas is that this opt-out option can be advantageous for both the employer and employee IF the employer sets up a self-funded alternative means to care for its injured workers. Unfortunately, we find that many Texas employers choose to make no provisions for employees with work related injuries and the consequences can be devastating for all parties. Small businesses sometimes face having to close its doors when one of its employees is seriously injured because the consequence of opting out of workers’ compensation insurance is that the employee is no longer “barred” from suing the employer. Nonetheless, the injured employee often has difficulty even finding a medical facility that will treat his or her injuries and many businesses are either under-funded or declare bankruptcy upon being sued by its employees.

JWE has many years of experience advising and/or suing employers who chose not to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Although we do not handle employee claims for workers’ compensation benefits unless the injury involves death, we have a strong network of workers’ compensation attorneys who we can recommend while we seek additional compensation for you from those non-employer companies who may share responsibility for your injuries. For example, we have extensive experience representing construction workers injured as a result of another subcontractor’s negligence.

If you or a loved one has been involved in a work related accident or illness, the attorneys at JWE would like to meet you.