Workers' Compensation Steps After a Head Injury at Work

Attorney Answer

Two things matter right now: get the head injury properly examined, and report it to your employer in writing. Texas gives you 30 days for that report, and the clock started the day you were hit.

Head injuries are the ones people most often shrug off, and they are the ones where a delay costs the most — both medically and in proving later that the work incident caused the problem.

Here is the framework. Tex. Lab. Code § 401.012(a) defines an employee, for the workers' compensation part of the code, as a person in the service of another under a contract of hire, whether express or implied, oral or written. Coverage does not turn on whether anyone was careless. If you were an employee and you were hurt at work, the benefits system is designed to pay without a fault fight.

The two deadlines are short and they are separate. 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. Both duties are yours, not your employer's, and telling a supervisor in passing is not the same as giving notice you can later prove.

If a deadline has already passed, the claim is not automatically gone. Tex. Lab. Code § 409.002 relieves the employer and its carrier of liability for late notice unless the employer, a person eligible to receive notice, or the carrier had actual knowledge of the injury, the division determines that good cause exists, or the claim is not contested. Tex. Lab. Code § 409.004 provides a similar exception for a late claim where good cause exists or the claim is not contested.

One more fact decides a great deal: whether your employer carries workers' compensation at all. Texas allows employers to go without it. If your employer carries it, Tex. Lab. Code § 408.001(a) makes benefits the exclusive remedy of a covered employee against the employer or an agent or employee of the employer for a work-related injury. If your employer does not carry it, you can sue in ordinary negligence, and Tex. Lab. Code § 406.033(a) removes the employer's three traditional defenses — contributory negligence, assumption of the risk, and a fellow employee's negligence — while § 406.033(d) still requires you to prove the employer's negligence.

Finally, Tex. Lab. Code § 451.001 prohibits discharging or otherwise discriminating against an employee for filing a workers' compensation claim in good faith or for hiring a lawyer about one. Reporting an injury is not something you can be lawfully punished for.

What you can do

1. Get medical attention for the head injury, and tell the doctor it happened at work. Say what hit you and when.

2. Give your employer written notice of the injury, dated, and keep a copy. Section 409.001(a) sets a 30-day period.

3. Ask your employer in writing whether it carries workers' compensation insurance and, if so, for the carrier's name.

4. If it does, file your claim with the Texas Division of Workers' Compensation. Section 409.003 puts that duty on you and gives one year.

5. Write down the names of anyone who saw it, and ask whether there is video or an incident report.

6. Keep every bill, record and work-restriction note in one place.

7. Ask a Texas work injury lawyer to look at it if you have symptoms that persist, if the claim is disputed, or if your employer had no coverage.

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) sets 30 days to notify the employer and § 409.003 sets one year to file with the division; Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003(a) generally requires a personal injury suit to be brought not later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues, which is the clock for a suit against a non-subscribing employer or a third party. Which applies to you depends on your facts, so have a Texas attorney confirm your dates rather than working them out yourself.