Work Related Injuries

Austin Workplace Injury Attorneys

Texans work hard. Whether your job is on a factory floor or construction site, in an office or cubicle, behind a counter or at the wheel, you expect to be compensated fairly for your time, effort, and commitment. If you get hurt on the job, as millions of Americans do every year, you also expect your employer to meet their obligations under the law to help you get back on your feet and back to work.

Sometimes, however, a company may not take care of its injured workers as it should. It may not have the workers’ compensation insurance required under Texas law. And even if a company does carry workers’ compensation insurance, it may challenge a worker’s right to benefits and medical care. Other times, a third party – like the manufacturer of a defective piece of equipment or another person’s negligence on the job – causes a worker’s injuries and may be held liable for those injuries and losses.

No matter what you do for a living and no matter how you got hurt on the job or the nature of your injuries, the Austin work injury attorneys at Sandoval & James, will work as hard as you do to help you and your family after a workplace accident. When you can’t work, don’t have a paycheck coming in, and when you are focusing on getting better, the bills and worries can pile up quickly. We are committed to easing your concerns, providing you with a path forward, and making sure that you receive all the resources, benefits, and compensation you have earned.

Thousands of Americans Die on the Job Every Year

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 5,147 Americans nationwide were killed while on the job in 2017. That’s an average of 14 workplace deaths every day. Five hundred thirty-four Texans died at work that same year.

As tragic as those statistics are, the number of workplace deaths is dwarfed by the number of Americans hurt at work every year. Approximately 2.8 million workers suffered a workplace injury or illness in 2017, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, including over 230,000 Texans.

No one is immune from workplace injuries. Certainly, some jobs are inherently riskier than others, but a slip and fall in an office hallway can be debilitating and keep someone off the job for weeks or months in the same way that an injury suffered on a construction site or while making a delivery can.

Damages Beyond Workers’ Compensation May Be Available

Like all states, Texas has a workers’ compensation system specifically designed to provide quick financial and medical benefits for workplace injuries without having to prove negligence or file a lawsuit that may take years to resolve. In fact, in most cases the law prevents insured workers from filing personal injury lawsuits against their employers to recover damages for their injuries.

Of course, that trade-off doesn’t apply if the employer doesn’t have workers’ compensation insurance as required – that’s where Sandoval & James comes in. When an employer is too cheap to obtain workers’ compensation insurance and you are injured on the job they are typically too cheap to be fair to the injured worker as well. This is the situation where Sandoval & James has expertise and can help you get the justice you deserve. Additionally, even when a worker obtains the full amount of workers’ compensation benefits, those benefits may not cover all their losses, including compensation for pain and suffering and other measures of damages that may be available in a personal injury lawsuit. We will make sure that you get full compensation for those losses if possible. It is true that typically when an employer has workers’ compensation insurance they are immune from lawsuit, however, additional compensation may be available where third-parties other than an employer are responsible for an on-the-job accident or injury. This can include personal injury claims against:

• The manufacturer of a defective or unreasonably dangerous tool, machine or another piece of equipment.
• The manufacturer of a toxic substance which caused illness or injury.
• The driver of another vehicle who hit the worker while the worker was doing his or her job.

Hurt at Work? Contact Sandoval & James Today
for Your Free Initial Consultation

You didn’t ask to be injured at work, but you should ask that those responsible for providing benefits or compensating you for your losses meet their obligations. At Sandoval & James, we help hard-working Texans like you get the maximum amount of compensation available for your on-the-job injuries or the death of a loved one in a workplace accident.

To arrange for your free initial consultation with one of our Austin work accident lawyers, call us today at 512-382-7707 or
contact us online.