Texas Law? Workers Compensation?
Is it mandatory that businesses in Texas carry Workers Compensation? I’m confused. My husband was injured on the job and was taken to the hospital. The initial bill walking in the door was paid by his employer, however we are now getting physician bills etc. He took it to his employer over a month ago and was told it would be taken care of. It still has not been paid & we are now getting the same bills stating if it is not paid or if they don’t hear word, then it will go to collections.
Shouldn’t his employers Workmans Comp cover these bills? If not, isn’t it the employers responsability to take care of these bills? My husband asked if they filed papers and they said it wasn’t mandatory in TX??? We don’t want to be idiots about this and certainly don’t want our credit ruined. I’m just curious ….is it not mandatory for businesses to obtain Workmans Comp insurance? Any sound advice would be appreciated….I just don’t know what to do, we’ve never been through this before. Thanks for your help!
Thank you Randy! I searched that site, but your link took me right to the answers I needed!! Thank you!
I live in Texas too, and I don’t have a clue, so here is the link to find out.
http://www.tdi.state.tx.us/wc/employer/index.html
You can search the whole site, I just included what I thought you would need most.
What your husbands company is trying to do is cover the bills so their premiums don’t go up. This is typically illegal and it’s called “premium fraud”. This happens a lot in the business in which the company think it’s a minor injury and they try to pay for it out of their own pocket. Obviously his company doesn’t know that it’s illegal not to file a claim on behalf of the injured party.
Nothing to worry about, contact the doctor and explain to them that he was injured while at work. Tell them if they could file it on your husband’s behalf. Next your husband should tell the company that you want to file the claim regardless, because you want to protect your right as a worker and be entitled to any benefits should the injury not heal right.
If all else fails, and both parties don’t file then contact the state, work comp board, and ask them that you want to file a claim due to an injury that your company failed to report. The state should send the information to you and the insurance company who represents your husbands company and it should be fine from there.
Your husband could be entitled to other benefits, so each day that you don’t file a claim it becomes worse for your husband. So file that claim! And be sure you follow up and write down any actions you’ve done so you know what you’ve done.
Good luck