Texas workplace injury law is more complicated than most states because Texas is the only state where private employers can opt out of workers comp entirely. That single fact changes everything about your case.
Trey Morris Injury Lawyers has handled workplace injury cases across East Texas for over 20 years.
Texas Is the Only State Where Workers Comp Is Optional
Every other state requires private employers to carry workers compensation insurance. Texas does not. Under Texas Labor Code Section 406.002, private employers can opt out of the system entirely. This is the starting point for every Texas workplace injury case.
DWC
Texas Division of Workers Compensation. The state agency that administers the Texas workers compensation system. Employers who purchase coverage through an approved carrier are “subscribers” and their employees receive DWC formula-based benefits.
non-subscriber
A Texas employer that has opted out of the workers compensation system under Tex. Labor Code Section 406.002. Non-subscriber employees cannot receive DWC benefits but can sue their employer in civil court for full tort damages.
The terminology matters. A “subscriber” employer carries DWC coverage through an approved insurance carrier. A non-subscriber employer has opted out and carries no DWC coverage for its workers.
Approximately 25 to 30 percent of Texas private employers are non-subscribers. In Tyler’s manufacturing, distribution, and timber sectors, that number is significant. Confirming your employer’s subscriber status is the first thing to establish in any Texas workplace injury case.
That determination drives everything. It controls what type of claim you file, what damages are available, and how the legal process unfolds. It is the foundation, not a procedural detail. Contact the Tyler injury lawyers at Trey Morris Injury Lawyers to check your employer’s status before taking any other step.
If Your Employer Is a Non-Subscriber: Your Right to Sue in Court
Non-subscriber employees can sue their employer in civil court for full tort damages. You are not limited to DWC formula benefits. In many respects, you are in a stronger legal position than injured workers in states with mandatory workers comp.
Non-subscriber lawsuit
A civil lawsuit filed by an injured employee against a Texas employer that opted out of the workers compensation system. The employer loses three statutory defenses, making these cases significantly more favorable to injured workers than standard civil negligence claims.
Non-subscriber employees seek full tort damages: past and future medical expenses, lost wages, lost earning capacity, pain and suffering, mental anguish, and disfigurement. No DWC formula caps these amounts.
Texas law strips three defenses from non-subscriber employers under Texas Labor Code Chapter 406. They cannot argue:
- Contributory negligence: that you were partially at fault for the accident.
- Assumption of risk: that you knew the job was dangerous and accepted that risk.
- Fellow-servant doctrine: that a coworker’s negligence, not the company’s, caused the injury.
In practical terms, the employer cannot shift blame to you or your coworkers. Your burden is to show the employer was negligent. That is a lower threshold than in standard civil lawsuits where defendants routinely use fault apportionment to reduce exposure.
If gross negligence is involved, exemplary damages are available under CPRC Section 41.008. Non-subscriber cases are routinely worth significantly more than comparable DWC claims.
The statute of limitations for a non-subscriber civil lawsuit is two years from the date of injury under CPRC Section 16.003. That deadline applies even if you are still in treatment. Delays can permanently bar your claim. Review our Tyler catastrophic harm practice area if your injury resulted in permanent disability or severe impairment.
If Your Employer Is a Subscriber: Navigating the DWC System
exclusive remedy doctrine
The rule that bars a subscriber employer’s employees from filing a civil lawsuit against the employer for a work injury. The DWC system is the exclusive remedy. It does not bar claims against third parties who contributed to the injury.
Subscriber employees are generally limited to the Texas workers compensation system under the exclusive remedy doctrine. You cannot sue your employer in civil court for the same injury covered by workers comp. The DWC is your primary path.
The Texas Division of Workers Compensation administers the system. Benefits fall into four tiers, each with distinct eligibility rules.
TIBs
Temporary Income Benefits. Texas workers compensation wage replacement during recovery from a work injury. Pays 70% of the injured worker’s average weekly wage, up to the state maximum, after a 7-day waiting period.
TIBs begin after a seven-day waiting period from the first day of lost wages. They pay 70 percent of your average weekly wage up to the state-set maximum. TIBs continue until you reach Maximum Medical Improvement or 104 weeks, whichever comes first.
TIBs are not calculated from your most recent paycheck. They use the average weekly wage from the 13 weeks before your injury. If you had overtime, bonuses, or irregular pay, that calculation matters.
IIBs
Impairment Income Benefits. A Texas workers compensation benefit paid after a worker reaches Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI). Calculated based on the impairment rating assigned by a treating physician using the AMA Guides.
MMI
Maximum Medical Improvement. The point at which a treating physician determines that further treatment will not materially improve the condition. For workers comp purposes, MMI triggers the shift from TIBs to impairment-based benefits.
impairment rating
A percentage assigned by a physician after MMI, measuring permanent functional loss under the AMA Guides. Each percentage point of impairment generates three weeks of IIB payments at 70% of average weekly wage in Texas workers comp.
IIBs begin after you reach MMI. A treating physician assigns an impairment rating using the AMA Guides to Permanent Impairment. Each percentage point of impairment generates three weeks of benefit payments at 70 percent of your average weekly wage.
The insurer’s chosen physician frequently assigns a lower rating than the injury warrants. You have the right to dispute that rating. A DWC-designated doctor can conduct an independent evaluation. The difference between a 5 percent and a 15 percent rating translates directly into weeks of benefits.
Supplemental Income Benefits (SIBs) and Lifetime Income Benefits (LIBs)
SIBs become available if your impairment rating is 15 percent or more and you cannot earn 80 percent of your pre-injury wages after the IIB period ends. They pay 80 percent of the difference between 80 percent of your pre-injury average weekly wage and your current earnings. SIBs require quarterly reapplications and documentation of job search efforts.
LIBs
Lifetime Income Benefits. The highest tier of Texas workers compensation, reserved for catastrophically injured workers. Pays 75% of the pre-injury average weekly wage, adjusted annually for inflation, for the rest of the worker’s life.
LIBs apply to specific catastrophic injuries: total and permanent loss of use of both hands, both feet, both eyes, or any two-limb combination; paraplegia or quadriplegia; and severe traumatic brain injury. They pay 75 percent of your pre-injury average weekly wage adjusted annually for inflation for the rest of your life.
The DWC dispute process involves benefit review conferences, contested case hearings before a hearing officer, and appeals to the DWC appeals panel. Each stage is adversarial, and the insurer has counsel.
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes; each case is decided on its own facts. See our full case results.
Third-Party Claims: Available Even When Workers Comp Applies
The exclusive remedy rule blocks a lawsuit against your subscriber employer. It does not block a lawsuit against a third party who caused or contributed to your injury. This distinction is critical in Tyler’s manufacturing and distribution environment.
Common third-party defendants in Smith County workplace injury cases include equipment manufacturers, product distributors, property owners, chemical suppliers, and subcontractors on multi-employer worksites. Each involves a different legal theory.
A product liability claim applies when a piece of equipment failed due to a design defect, manufacturing defect, or inadequate warning under CPRC Chapter 82. The manufacturer or distributor is the defendant, not your employer. A premises liability claim applies when a property owner’s negligence created the hazardous condition. An invitee (a worker present for a business purpose) is owed a duty of ordinary care, including the duty to inspect and correct hazards. A subcontractor negligence claim applies when another company’s workers on the same site created the dangerous condition.
subrogation lien
A legal right held by a workers comp insurer to seek reimbursement from any third-party recovery the injured worker obtains. The lien covers benefits already paid. Your attorney negotiates the lien amount to maximize your net recovery.
A third-party lawsuit can run simultaneously with a DWC claim. You do not have to choose. The subrogation lien ties them together: the workers comp carrier has the right to be reimbursed from your third-party recovery for benefits it already paid. Your attorney negotiates that lien. In serious cases, the third-party claim is the highest-value component by a wide margin. See our Tyler product liability practice area for more on defective equipment claims.
Trey Morris Injury Lawyers handles multi-party workplace injury claims across Tyler and Smith County.
Common Workplace Injuries in Tyler and Smith County
Smith County’s manufacturing, distribution, timber, and healthcare sectors produce the most common serious workplace injuries seen in Tyler. UT Health Tyler is the area’s Level I Trauma Center and the primary facility for serious occupational injuries in the region. The county seat’s industrial base spans automotive parts manufacturing, aerospace component production, timber and paper processing, and large distribution and logistics operations.
Manufacturing injuries in Tyler most commonly involve crushing and caught-between incidents, forklift accidents, falls from elevated work platforms, struck-by incidents from overhead lifting operations, chemical exposure, and thermal burns. Paper and timber operations add saw and blade injuries, log handling accidents, and falls from elevated equipment platforms. Distribution and warehouse environments produce forklift rollovers, conveyor system entanglements, rack collapses, and loading dock incidents. OSHA data consistently shows falls as the leading cause of construction and warehouse fatalities nationally, and Smith County workplaces are not exempt.
Healthcare is a significant employer in Tyler. Needlestick injuries, patient-handling back and shoulder injuries, and chemical exposure incidents are regular sources of workers comp claims at UT Health Tyler and affiliated facilities. These are subscriber-employer environments. The DWC system governs the employer relationship. Third-party equipment and product liability claims remain possible depending on the circumstances.
Injury severity determines the legal pathway. Permanent impairment from a subscriber employer triggers IIB and potentially LIB analysis. The same injury from a non-subscriber employer triggers full tort damages analysis. A defective piece of manufacturing equipment from a third-party manufacturer triggers product liability analysis. One incident can open multiple legal pathways simultaneously.
Review our Tyler premises liability practice area for injuries at third-party properties.
Your Tyler Injury Attorneys
Founder Trey Morris leads every injury case the firm takes.
What Should You Do After a Workplace Injury in Texas?
Texas law imposes specific deadlines that can bar your claim if missed. Acting immediately matters for both legal and evidentiary reasons.
Texas Labor Code Section 409.001 requires you to give written notice to your employer within 30 days of the injury or within 30 days of when you knew or should have known the injury was work-related. Verbal notification is not sufficient. Put it in writing. Keep a copy.
If you are covered by a subscriber employer, there are two separate deadlines to know. The first is the 30-day employer notice requirement. The second is a one-year deadline to file a formal DWC claim. Missing the DWC filing deadline can bar your benefits claim entirely, even if the two-year civil statute of limitations has not run. Under Texas Labor Code Section 409.005, subscriber employers must file a First Report of Injury with the DWC within eight days of learning about a lost-time injury. Non-subscriber employers have no such obligation. If your employer opted out, you must build the documentation record yourself from day one.
See a doctor promptly. Under the DWC system, your treating physician must be in the approved provider network. Outside the DWC system, you may see any qualified provider. UT Health Tyler and its affiliated occupational health network are options for Tyler workers. Document your injuries thoroughly at the first visit. Do not minimize symptoms.
Preserve evidence immediately. Photograph the scene, the equipment, the conditions. Collect contact information from any witnesses. Retain any written work orders, safety logs, or communications about the hazard that caused your injury. Do not give a recorded statement to your employer’s insurer, HR department, or claims adjuster without first speaking to an attorney.
The statute of limitations is two years under CPRC Section 16.003. Evidence decays much faster than two years. Security footage is overwritten in days or weeks. Equipment gets repaired or replaced. Witnesses move on. Earlier is always better.
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How Does Proportionate Responsibility Apply to Workplace Injury in Texas?
Texas CPRC Chapter 33 governs proportionate responsibility in civil lawsuits. The system assigns fault percentages to each responsible party. Under the 51 percent bar, a plaintiff who is 51 percent or more responsible recovers nothing. At 50 percent or less, damages are reduced proportionally.
In a non-subscriber lawsuit, the three stripped defenses operate as a structural protection for the injured worker. The employer cannot raise contributory negligence as a defense. It cannot argue that your fault contributed to the accident at all. That does not eliminate proportionate responsibility from every aspect of the case, but it forecloses the most common employer defense mechanism before litigation begins.
In a third-party lawsuit, proportionate responsibility applies fully. Defendants routinely designate responsible third parties under CPRC Section 33.004 to shift fault to your employer, to other contractors on the site, or to you. You have 60 days after a responsible-third-party designation to join that party as a defendant. Miss that window and the fault allocation may be assigned to a party you cannot recover from directly.
Trey Morris Injury Lawyers handles multi-party workplace injury cases across Tyler and Smith County and has extensive experience with industrial and manufacturing liability claims.
Frequently Asked Questions
My employer does not carry workers comp in Texas. What are my legal options?
What is the difference between a non-subscriber lawsuit and a DWC workers comp claim in Texas?
How long do I have to file a workers comp or workplace injury claim in Texas?
Can I pursue a third-party lawsuit while also receiving DWC workers comp benefits?
What are Lifetime Income Benefits and what injuries qualify?
The DWC insurer denied my claim. What can I do?
What is an impairment rating and how does it affect my Texas workers comp benefits?
Does working in Tyler manufacturing or distribution change my legal options?
Last updated September 26, 2026