Delayed Treatment After a Workplace Slip and Fall

Attorney Answer

Waiting to see a doctor does not automatically end a Texas work injury claim, but it is the main argument the other side will make — and the reporting deadlines in a Texas work injury are far shorter than most people expect, so those are the more urgent problem.

Everything turns first on one fact you may not know yet: whether your employer carried workers' compensation insurance. Texas is unusual in letting employers go without it.

If the employer did carry coverage, workers' compensation is the route, and it is generally the only route against the employer. Tex. Lab. Code § 408.001(a) provides that recovery of workers' compensation benefits is the exclusive remedy of a covered employee, or a legal beneficiary, against the employer or an agent or employee of the employer for a work-related injury. Coverage does not depend on anyone being at fault, so the missing wet-floor sign is not what you have to prove.

Two deadlines govern that route. Tex. Lab. Code § 409.001(a) requires an employee, or a person acting on the employee's behalf, to notify the employer of an injury not later than the 30th day after the date the injury occurs. Tex. Lab. Code § 409.003 requires a claim for compensation to be filed with the Division of Workers' Compensation not later than one year after the date the injury occurred. Missing either one is serious but not always fatal: § 409.002 relieves the employer and its carrier of liability for late notice unless the employer or carrier had actual knowledge of the injury, the division determines good cause exists, or the claim is not contested. Section 409.004 provides a similar good-cause and uncontested-claim exception for a late claim. If your employer knew about the fall when it happened, that fact matters.

If the employer did not carry coverage, your route is an ordinary negligence suit, and Texas strips that employer of its best defenses. Under Tex. Lab. Code § 406.033(a), in an action against an employer who is not covered, it is not a defense that the employee was contributorily negligent, that the employee assumed the risk, or that a fellow employee's negligence caused the injury. But § 406.033(d) still requires you to prove the employer's negligence — which is where the unmarked wet floor comes in. Tex. Lab. Code § 401.012(a) defines an employee, for this subtitle, as a person in the service of another under a contract of hire.

About the delay itself: a gap between the fall and the first medical visit does not bar a claim, but it gives the carrier room to argue the fracture came from something else. The way that argument is answered is with records — what you told people at the time, what the January examination showed, and what your doctor says about the mechanism of a fracture like yours.

What you can do

1. If you have not reported the injury to your employer in writing, do it now and keep a dated copy. Section 409.001(a) sets a 30-day notice period, and a late notice is better than none given the exceptions in § 409.002.

2. Ask your employer in writing, or ask the Texas Division of Workers' Compensation, whether the employer carried workers' compensation coverage on the date you fell. That single fact decides which route you are on.

3. Gather your medical records, including the January visit and the imaging that showed the fracture.

4. Write down the names of anyone who saw the wet floor, the fall, or you limping afterward, and ask whether an incident report or security video exists.

5. Ask a Texas work injury lawyer about the 30-day and one-year rules and the good-cause exception, since real time has already passed on both.

Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Tex. Lab. Code § 409.001(a) (30 days to notify the employer) and § 409.003 (one year to file with the division) control the workers' compensation route, and Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a) sets a two-year limitations period for a negligence suit against a non-subscribing employer. Which deadline applies to you, and whether an exception saves a late one, depends on your facts. Have a Texas attorney review your dates now — do not calculate them yourself.