Employers have an obligation to provide their workers with a safe and healthy work environment. They must also have all reasonable and necessary mechanisms and procedures to safeguard the employees’ well-being. However, the possibility of an accident at work will always be latent.
Given this reality, workers must have the necessary information to know if they qualify to make a workers’ compensation claim if they become victims of an accident or work-related illness.
First, the worker must know if the company belongs to the labor compensation system. Typically, this information must be provided by the employer when hiring you. It should be noted that in Texas, employers can be non-subscribers, offer self-insured plans, and may even not carry workers’ compensation insurance, in which case they may be held liable for their workers’ injuries.
Read our blog: Cases of third parties and non-subscribers. Everything you need to know!
Next, if an employee is injured on the job in a company that subscribes to the workers’ compensation program, they must report the incident to their employer. While the employee has up to 30 days to report the accident, ideally, they should do so immediately. Likewise, they must follow the established procedure, such as filling out forms or reports of work incidents.
Timely medical care is another vital aspect of workers’ compensation cases to assess the nature and severity of work-related injuries or illnesses. Additionally, the necessary treatment and the type of benefit that corresponds to the injured worker can be established with the medical report.
To complete the process, the employee has up to one year from the workplace incident or from the time he or she is informed of the illness to file a claim with the Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation. Within this period, he must fill out and send the corresponding official form and wait for the answer. This procedure also applies to claim Death Benefits if the worker dies due to a work-related incident.
