In Texas, employers are not required to carry Texas Workers’ Compensation and most trucking companies do not carry Texas Workers’ Compensation and have their own work injury benefit plans which are extremely unfavorable to employees.
Most truck drivers who are based out of Texas work for a trucking company that does not carry Texas Workers’ Compensation Insurance. Instead, these companies have their own Occupational Work Injury Benefit Plans. So why don’t they have Texas Workers’ Compensation Insurance? The reason is cost. With their own plan they get to decide what benefits to pay, how long to pay the benefits and even if the injury is covered. If they have Texas Workers’ Compensation on the other hand, there are usually greater benefits and you have the right to have an independent judge, not the employer, decide if you should be paid benefits. Also, Texas Workers’ Compensation allows for unlimited medical payments, lifetime death benefits which private employer supported plans rarely if ever allow.
That’s the bad news, the good news is that if your employer does not have Texas Workers’ Compensation insurance and you are injured in the course and scope of your employer as the result of negligence of your employer or a co-employee you can sue your employer for all your damages, including mental anguish, pain and suffering, lost future wages. Texas Workers’ Compensation is “no fault” insurance so you don’t have to prove employer negligence while a claim against your employer who does not carry Texas Workers’ Compensation the injured employee must prove some negligence. However, negligence can be proven in many different ways and the trucking company is liable even if the employee is 99% and fault and the employer is only 1% at fault. If you are a truck driver who is injured while working for a trucking company it is important that you speak with a board certified employment lawyer about your claim.