Lubbock, TX Workers’ Compensation: Your Guide to Benefits

Understanding Your Rights After a Workplace Injury

Nearly 30% of injuries among working-age adults in the U.S. occur while at work; that means about one in three injuries happen on the job. 

What does that mean for the Lubbock workforce? The Lubbock civilian workforce consists of about 169,500 people at last count by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). There are about 163,700 non-farm workers.

Of those non-farm workers in Lubbock, here’s how the working population breaks down in numbers, according to the most recent year for which data were recorded:

Industry	Number of workers in Lubbock
Government	36,400
Trade, transportation, and utilities	34,600
Education and health services	25,200
Leisure and hospitality	22,000
Professional and business services	14,200
Mining, logging, and construction	9,300
Financial activities	8,100
Other services	6,400
Manufacturing	5,300
Information	2,200
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Southwest Information Office, Lubbock

Different jobs are more or less likely to result in injuries, but we can estimate that by the numbers, more than 65,000 Lubbock residents suffer a work-related injury in an average year.

Whether it’s a car accident or any other type of accident, Lubbock workplace accidents have a range of severity. Fortunately, most employees are covered by workers’ compensation insurance benefits.

What is Lubbock workers’ compensation?

Workers’ compensation is a system by which employees can receive benefits from employer-provided insurance for costs incurred due to a workplace injury. Each state administers its workers’ compensation system and applies the law according to its own guidelines.

Do all Lubbock employees have workers’ compensation insurance?

Texas does not require every private employer to carry workers’ compensation insurance. If the employer contracts with a government entity, the employer must provide workers’ comp to the employees who work on the government project or contract. Some contractors require subcontractors and independent contractors to have workers’ comp insurance. 

However, most employers do provide workers’ compensation insurance. Workers’ comp is beneficial to both the employer and the employee. The employee receives compensation for medical treatment and a portion of their lost wages. The employer is protected from lawsuits that could arise from an injury.

This is because workers’ compensation is an exclusive remedy. If an injured worker has workers’ compensation insurance, they must make a claim for benefits against their workers’ comp policy. Worker’s compensation is no-fault insurance, which means the injured person is not required to prove negligence, and they may not file a lawsuit against their employer to recover damages for the same injury.

This serves two purposes:

• The worker can file a claim and recover benefits quickly, without the added hassle of trying to provide evidence of negligence; all they have to prove is that the injury happened at work to be eligible to receive benefits. 
• The employer is spared the time, money, and potential public scrutiny of a lawsuit.

What qualifies as a work-related injury?

An injury or illness that occurs at your workplace that is related to your job is compensable. Likewise, an injury suffered while performing job-related duties off-site is also compensable by workers’ compensation. 

Scenario 1: You’re employed as clerical staff for an administrative office at Texas Tech University. A student intern was moving some boxes and left one on the floor in the hall outside your office. You emerge from your office and trip over the box in the hall, which results in several broken bones, one of which requires surgery, and lengthy recovery time. 

Scenario 2: An elderly TTU professor is at the podium giving a lecture, when he suffers a stroke. He is hospitalized for several weeks and needs to take early retirement. 

Scenario 3: A young dining services employee (non-student) is delivering food to homeless shelters off-campus as part of a campus initiative. He is about a mile from campus when he’s involved in a collision with another vehicle. He suffers a concussion and some other non-life-threatening injuries. 

In the first and third situations, the employees would be able to claim workers’ compensation benefits because the injuries happened at work and were related to their jobs. In the second scenario, even though the professor was at work, it would be more difficult to demonstrate the stroke was caused by conditions at his job. His age, potential genetic factors, and other issues related to his general health would be the more likely causes of the stroke.

Workers’ compensation doesn’t cover a worker who:

• Intentionally caused their own injury; 
• Was roughhousing or intoxicated; 
• Was injured outside of work or while voluntarily participating in an off-duty sports or social event;
• Was injured by another person for a reason that was not job-related; or
• Was injured by an "act of God" like a hurricane, tornado, etc., unless the job had a high likelihood of exposure to these types of events.

What benefits can you receive for a Lubbock workers’ compensation claim?

Medical treatment

This includes costs for hospital stays, doctor visits, diagnostics, prescription medication, prosthetics, and so on.

Lost wages

You can receive the following benefits:

• Temporary income, or 70% of the difference between your average weekly wage and what you would have earned during your recovery from the injury. 
• Impairment income, which is based on an impairment rating from a health care provider after you’ve reached maximum medical improvement (MMI). This is 70% of your average weekly wage, and it lasts for a period of time based on your impairment rating. 
• Supplemental income, or benefits paid monthly when impairment benefits end. This can happen if your impairment rating is 15% or higher, and if you haven’t returned to work. If you are back to work in a role that earns less than 80% of your average weekly wage from prior to your injury, you might also receive supplemental income benefits. 
• Lifetime income applies if you suffer a permanent disability that includes loss of sight, loss of both feet, some spinal injuries, some brain injuries, loss of use of both hands, loss of another extremity, and some third degree burns.

Death benefits

If the victim dies of a work-related injury or illness, their survivors are entitled to receive benefits that include burial costs up to $10,000. 

A spouse or dependents could also receive 75% of the deceased employee’s average weekly wage for their lifetime, unless the spouse remarries. This would continue through remarriage if the deceased person was a first responder. For a dependent child, benefits continue to age 18, or age 25 if they are a full-time student.

How to file a workers’ compensation claim in Lubbock

1. Notify the Texas Department of Insurance Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) that you need to file a claim. The DWC will refer you to the correct forms.
2. Complete DWC Form 041 and return it to the Division.
   
   This is the extent of your responsibility as a claimant.

If your claim is denied, you may attend a benefit review conference with an insurance representative and a DWC officer. You may then request a contested case hearing to appear before an administration law judge for further review of your claim.

If you were injured at work in Lubbock, you can contact a workers’ comp attorney for guidance in filing your claim, negotiating a settlement offer, and what to do if you’re not sure how much or what benefits you will require.