Texas Workers Compensation Law Blog : Texas Workers' Compensation Lawyer & Attorney : John Gibson + Associates, PC : TX Injured Workers : Lubbock, Amarillo

According to a New York Times article, the feds are cracking down on employers that classify employees as independent contractors. Classifying regular workers as independent contractors allows companies to get around minimum wage, overtime and antidiscrimination laws. Workers classified as independent contractors also do not receive unemployment insurance if laid off or workers’ compensation if injured, and they rarely receive the health insurance or other fringe benefits regular employees do. Of course, this results in substantial savings for the employer. According to the article, the most often misclassified workers are truck drivers, construction workers, home health aides and high-tech engineers. 

Sometimes, though, the employer may have to provide workers compensation coverage to employees in order to bid on government contracts. Or, in the construction field, a contractor may require a subcontractor to furnish workers compensation coverage for employees in order to protect the contractor. Sometimes in these situations the employer will provide workers compensation coverage but will deduct the premiums from the compensation paid to workers classified as independent contractors. In these situations, very specific rules apply for the employer to classify the workers as independent contractors. Otherwise, it is illegal to withhold workers compensation premiums from a worker's check. At our offices, we currently represent a group of employees who faced this very problem. Tens of thousands of dollars were withheld from the workers to pay workers compensation premiums.

If your employer classifies you as an independent contractor, make sure you are truly independent. Who has the right to control your work? Do you have the ability to independently profit from your work? Have you made a significant investment in equipment or supplies to perform your work? Is your work with your current employer temporary? Who sets the hours? Who sets the pay? Now, if you are truly and independent contractor, look at the check you receive and see what is taken out. If workers compensation premiums are withheld, see a lawyer to determine if it is legal for you to be required to pay the premiums from your check.

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When injured on the job be sure and follow these steps:

1.  Immediately report the injury to your supervisor. Make sure that the injury is properly logged or recorded by your supervisor.
2. Request medical attention for your injury and take note of the names of the doctors who are treating you. Remember, you are not required to see a company doctor.
3. Make sure to get contact information from any witnesses. If possible, use your phone to take photographs of the accident site. Take photographs of your injuries as well, both before and after treatment.
4. Do not sign anything, or give any recorded statements, until you have spoken with an experienced workers compensation lawyer. You may be signing away your rights without even knowing it.
5. If you are injured, stop working until released to work by your doctor. Additional labor could severely aggravate your injury. If your doctor releases you to light duty, you do not have to return to work unless your employer agrees in writing to abide by your doctor's restrictions.
6. Contact an experienced workers compensation attorney as soon as possible after your injury.

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 Larson's Workers' Compensation Reporter, the premier name in workers' compensation legal reporters, has issued their list of the top ten most bizarre or unusual workers compensation cases in 2009.  Among the highlights:

An Illinois man was awarded benefits for a displaced fracture through the right femoral neck when he attempted to dislodge a bag of potato chips from a vending machine for a female worker by giving the machine a "shoulder block."

A Missouri court upheld a denial of death benefits to the beneficiaries of a workers comp fraud investigator who was killed in a car wreck on the job. Alcohol and speeding were determined to be the causes.

Its important to remember that these lists are sensational by nature and not indicative of most workers compensation claims. Nevertheless, they do make for interesting reading, especially for those of us in the field of workers' compensation law.

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Texas is the only state that doesn't make workers compensation insurance mandatory for at least some employers. This is a shame, because workers' compensation insurance is beneficial to both employees and employers as Sally Spooner, a school teacher, and the Cody School District, her employer, recently found out.

The Cody School District is the local school district in Cody, Wyoming. Recently, the district decided to discontinue providing workers compensation insurance for their employees as the superintendent and school board felt that $175,000.00 in annual premiums was not a good way to save money for the district. They couldn't have been more wrong. One of their teachers, Sally Spooner, slipped and fell and ended up having to have her right let amputated just below the knee after suffering serious injuries. Now, this incident will likely cost the district far in excess of what they would have paid in annual workers' comp premiums.

This incident illustrates the give and take of the workers' compensation system. For employers, workers' compensation insurance protects them from the big money judgments for pain and suffering, loss of future earning capacity, loss of consortium, disfigurement, etc. Typically, workers' compensation claimants recover their medical expenses, lost wages and some kind of future impairment benefit. They downside for the employer is that workers compensation is no-fault insurance. Thus, even if an employee is injured through no fault of the employer, the insurance compensates the claimant. For the claimant, obviously they receive benefits without having to prove fault--and typically those benefits start being paid very quickly versus the length of time it would take if you had to prove negligence in a court of law. However, the injured claimant gives up the right to sue their employer for their employer's negligence in causing the injury. Thus, the injured party cannot recover the big money damages that we often hear about in the news. Thus system serves both parties equally. But more importantly, providing workers' compensation insurance for employees is the right thing to do. Just look at the comments to the hyperlinked article about Ms. Spooner, above, to see what I mean.

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