If you were hurt on the job in Fort Worth, you may be able to recover far more than workers’ compensation would ever pay, especially if your employer opted out of the comp system. Texas is the only state that allows most private employers to skip workers’ compensation insurance, and employers who do so (called nonsubscribers) lose their strongest defenses the moment an injured worker sues.
A Fort Worth work injury lawyer at Tate Law Offices can tell you on the first call whether your employer carried coverage and what your claim is actually worth. We work on a contingency fee basis, so you pay nothing unless you recover.
Call (972) 499-4813 anytime, day or night, for a free consultation.
Does Your Employer Even Carry Workers’ Comp?
Before anything else, you need to know whether your employer carries workers’ compensation insurance. The answer determines the type of claim you may have and the compensation you may seek.
Texas Employers Can Opt Out of Workers’ Compensation
Texas does not require most private employers to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Employers that choose not to participate are called nonsubscribers. They must file an annual notice, known as Form DWC-005, with the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation.
Your Employer’s Coverage Determines Your Legal Options
If your employer carries workers’ compensation insurance, you generally cannot sue the company for an injury covered by the system. You are usually limited to workers’ compensation benefits, which do not include payment for pain and suffering.
The rules differ when an employer is a nonsubscriber. If the employer’s negligence caused your injury, you may file a personal injury lawsuit and seek compensation for the full extent of your losses, including pain and suffering.
A Pre-Injury Waiver May Not Prevent You From Suing
Some nonsubscriber employers ask new employees to sign an agreement waiving their right to sue. However, Texas Labor Code Section 406.033(e) states that a waiver signed before an injury occurs is void and unenforceable.
That means a document you signed during orientation may not prevent you from bringing a claim. An attorney can review the agreement, confirm your employer’s coverage status, and explain which legal path applies to your case.
Talk to a Fort Worth Work Injury Attorney Before You Sign Anything
If your employer or its insurer is already asking for a recorded statement or pushing a quick check, slow down and call us first. What you say in the first week can shape the whole case, and once you sign a release, it is usually over.
Report the injury in writing, get your own medical care rather than only the clinic your employer sends you to, and hold on to anything that shows what caused it: photos of the hazard, names of coworkers who saw it, and any safety complaints made before it happened.
Tate Law Offices is a family firm (the Tate and Rehmet families) handling serious injury cases across Tarrant County and the wider Dallas-Fort Worth metro. You deal directly with the attorneys, not a call center.
Reach us at (972) 499-4813 for a free consultation. There is no fee unless you collect.
Three Ways to Recover After a Fort Worth Work Injury
Most on-the-job injury cases we handle in Fort Worth fall into one of three lanes. Figuring out which one fits you is the first real decision, because each points at a different source of money.
A nonsubscriber claim against your employer
If your employer opted out of workers’ comp, you can sue the company directly for negligence: an unsafe worksite, missing safety equipment, no training, poor supervision, or a known hazard left unfixed. You can recover the full range of personal injury damages, not the capped benefits comp would offer.
A third-party claim
Sometimes the party that hurt you is not your employer at all. A subcontractor on the same site, a negligent property owner, a maker of defective equipment, or another driver can each be on the hook. A third-party claim can proceed even when your employer does carry comp.
A work-related vehicle crash
If you drive for work and get hit, or a company vehicle wreck injures you, that is often a straightforward personal injury claim against the at-fault driver and their insurer. These cases run alongside any workplace claim, and you can read more on our Fort Worth car accident and truck accident pages.
Where Fort Worth Workers Get Hurt
Fort Worth depends on workers in physically demanding industries. The hazards they face often reflect the jobs, equipment, and locations that keep the region moving.
Warehouse and Construction Injuries
At the AllianceTexas logistics hub in far-north Fort Worth, warehouse and distribution employees may suffer forklift accidents, loading-dock injuries, and injuries from falling merchandise. Along the I-35W corridor and near Fort Worth’s growing suburbs, construction workers face falls from heights, equipment strikes, trench collapses, and scaffold accidents.
Energy, Aerospace, and Manufacturing Hazards
Fort Worth’s energy and oilfield workers may suffer burns, blowout injuries, and accidents involving heavy equipment. Aerospace and manufacturing employees also face machinery accidents, repetitive-motion injuries, and other hazards on production floors.
Transportation and Delivery Accidents
Delivery drivers and truckers can suffer serious injuries on Loop 820, US-287, I-35W, and the highways surrounding AllianceTexas. Workers with severe injuries may receive treatment at John Peter Smith Hospital’s Level I trauma center or Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth.
The cost of trauma care, rehabilitation, and time away from work can rise quickly. Workers who suffer brain injuries, spinal cord damage, or other life-changing harm can learn more on our catastrophic injury lawyer page.
Problems Arise When an Employer Does Not Carry Workers’ Comp
In our experience with Fort Worth warehouse and construction injury cases, the same problem appears repeatedly. A worker is told to file a workers’ compensation claim, only to learn weeks later that the employer never carried the coverage.
By that point, the employer’s insurer or defense adjuster may already be gathering evidence and building a case against the worker’s claim. Early legal help can protect important evidence, identify whether the employer is a nonsubscriber, and prevent avoidable mistakes from weakening the case.
What a Nonsubscriber Employer Can No Longer Argue
When your employer chose to go without workers’ comp, Texas Labor Code Section 406.033 took away the three defenses employers rely on most in an injury lawsuit. In a case against a nonsubscriber, the company cannot argue:
- That you were partly at fault (contributory negligence)
- That you assumed the risk of the job
- That a coworker’s mistake, not the company’s, caused your injury
That is a real advantage, and it is why nonsubscriber cases play out differently from an ordinary injury suit. It does not make the case automatic. Under Section 406.033(d), you still have to prove the employer was negligent, and the company can still argue your injury was self-inflicted or caused by intoxication, or point to a responsible third party. Sorting through that is exactly the work we do for you.
What Your Claim Could Be Worth
A nonsubscriber work injury claim reaches money that workers’ comp never touches. Comp pays limited medical and a slice of lost wages, and nothing for what the injury actually did to your life. A personal injury claim can pursue your full medical costs, full lost earnings and future earning capacity, and compensation for physical pain and mental anguish. In a fatal case, certain family members may bring a wrongful death claim
No honest attorney will promise you a number. Value depends on the injury, the negligence, the insurance and assets behind the claim, and how well it is documented. What we can promise is that the fee is contingent: our pay is a share of the recovery, and if there is no recovery, you owe us nothing.
How Long You Have to File
Do not sit on this. Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003, you generally have two years from the date of the injury to file a work injury lawsuit in Texas. Miss that window, and the claim is usually gone, no matter how strong it was.
The practical deadline is even shorter, because safety records, site conditions, equipment, and witness memories all fade or disappear in the weeks after an injury.
The sooner you call, the more of that evidence we can lock down. You can find the safety standards behind many of these cases through the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the statute itself at Texas Legislature Online.
Why Fort Worth Workers Trust Tate Rehmet Law Offices
You want a firm that knows the difference between a comp benefit claim and a nonsubscriber lawsuit, because that difference decides everything about your case. Here is what sets Tate Law Offices apart when you are hurt on the job in Fort Worth.
A family firm, not a billboard mill
Tate Law Offices is run by the Tate and Rehmet families, and we take fewer cases so we can work each one harder. You are not a file number moving down an assembly line, and your case is not passed off to whoever happens to be free that week.
You work directly with your attorney
From the first call to the final check, you deal with Claire Tate-Rehmet, Chris Rehmet, or Tim Tate, the people whose names are on the door. You will not be handed to a rotating case manager or left talking to a screener reading from a script.
We handle the side of work injury law that comp firms skip
Plenty of firms only file comp paperwork. Our focus is the personal injury side: nonsubscriber lawsuits and third-party claims that reach the full damages comp will never pay. Knowing which claim you actually have, and which Texas defenses fall away against a nonsubscriber, is where these cases are won or lost.
We know how Fort Worth workers get hurt
The industries that drive Tarrant County injuries are the ones we build cases around, from the AllianceTexas warehouses to the construction corridors along I-35W to the energy and manufacturing floors. We know the trauma centers your bills come from and the local courts these claims are filed in, and that context shapes how we prove your case.
No fee unless you collect, and someone to call any hour
Hiring us costs nothing up front and nothing at all unless we recover for you. You can reach us 24/7, which matters when an injury happens on a night shift and the evidence is still sitting on the floor waiting to disappear.
Put those together and you get a firm built to take on the company and its insurer while you focus on healing. That is the standard we hold ourselves to on every Fort Worth work injury case.
Fort Worth Work Injury FAQ
Can I sue my employer if I got hurt at work in Texas?
Sometimes, yes. If your employer opted out of workers’ compensation (a nonsubscriber), you can sue the company directly for negligence under Texas Labor Code Chapter 406. If your employer carries comp, you usually cannot sue it, but you may still have a third-party claim against someone else who caused your injury.
What if my employer has workers’ compensation?
Then you generally file for comp benefits rather than suing your employer, and comp is not our focus. You may still have a personal injury claim against a third party, such as a subcontractor, a property owner, an equipment maker, or an at-fault driver. Call us and we will tell you honestly whether a claim exists.
How much does a Fort Worth work injury lawyer cost?
Nothing up front. Tate Law Offices handles these cases on a contingency fee basis, so our fee is a percentage of what we recover, and you owe nothing if we do not win.
My employer says the injury was my own fault. Does that end my claim?
Not against a nonsubscriber. Under Texas Labor Code Section 406.033, a nonsubscriber employer cannot use your own carelessness, assumption of risk, or a coworker’s mistake as a defense. Your share of fault does not bar the claim the way it might in an ordinary injury case.
I was hurt in a company vehicle. Is that a work injury or a car accident claim?
It can be both. A crash on the job is usually a personal injury claim against the at-fault driver, and it can run alongside a workplace claim. Bring us the details and we will map out every source of recovery.
How long do I have to file a work injury claim in Texas?
Generally two years from the date of injury under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003. Some steps have shorter windows, so it is smart to call well before that two-year mark.
Call a Fort Worth Work Injury Lawyer Today
An injury at work can put your income, your health, and your family under real pressure, and the employer’s insurer is already working to limit what it pays. You do not have to sort out nonsubscriber rules, deadlines, and coverage on your own.
Call Tate Rehmet Law Offices for a free consultation, any hour of the day or night. You pay nothing unless we recover for you. Let us handle the company and its insurer while you focus on getting back on your feet.
