A construction site, a warehouse floor, a delivery route, an office under renovation: workplace injuries happen everywhere in Austin, and the legal path forward depends less on where it happened than on one specific fact.
Texas is the only state that lets employers skip workers’ comp entirely, and whether yours did changes everything about your case. George Salinas Injury Lawyers handles workplace injury claims across every industry, in English or Spanish, with no fee unless we win.
Call (512) 851-1004 today for a free, 24/7 case review.
Resources On This Page
- Do You Need a Lawyer After a Workplace Accident?
- Can You Sue Your Employer for a Workplace Injury in Texas?
- What If Someone Other Than Your Employer Caused the Accident?
- Do Workplace Accident Cases Look Different Depending on the Industry?
- Compensation You Can Recover After a Workplace Accident
- The Cost of Hiring an Austin Workplace Accident Lawyer
- How Long Do You Have to File a Claim in Texas?
- What to Do After a Workplace Accident in Austin
- Why Austin Trusts George Salinas Injury Lawyers With Workplace Cases
- Ask George Salinas Injury Lawyers
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Schedule Your Free Consultation
Do You Need a Lawyer After a Workplace Accident?
Yes, even if you’ve already started a workers’ comp claim. Comp benefits and a lawsuit against your employer or a third party aren’t always either-or, and figuring out which paths are actually open to you is exactly the kind of decision that’s hard to get right without help.
Can You Sue Your Employer for a Workplace Injury in Texas?
It depends entirely on whether your employer carries workers’ compensation insurance. If they do, comp benefits are generally your only remedy against the employer itself, with a narrow exception if a death was caused by an intentional act or gross negligence. If your employer is a non-subscriber, meaning they opted out of workers’ comp entirely, you can sue them directly for negligence, and Texas law strips them of several defenses they’d otherwise be able to use against you.
What If Someone Other Than Your Employer Caused the Accident?
You can usually pursue both. Texas law allows you to collect workers’ comp benefits and separately sue a negligent third party, someone other than your employer, for the same injury. This comes up constantly on job sites with multiple companies, where a different contractor, a property owner, or an equipment manufacturer may share the blame.
Not sure who’s responsible for your injury? Call (512) 851-1004 and we’ll walk through it with you, free of charge.
Do Workplace Accident Cases Look Different Depending on the Industry?
The legal framework stays the same, but the specific risks don’t. Construction remains the highest-risk category in Austin’s building boom, and our Austin construction accident lawyer page covers that in depth, scaffolding falls, crane accidents, and the rest.
Manufacturing and warehouse work is a growing part of that picture too. Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas alone has added thousands of jobs in the Austin area since 2021, and Samsung’s semiconductor plant nearby in Taylor has brought more industrial work into the region, both involving heavy equipment, forklifts, and production lines.
Delivery and transportation work raises a related but separate question. If you drive for a company like Amazon, FedEx, or UPS and got hurt on the job, that’s a workplace injury claim like the ones on this page, different from being hit by one of those companies’ vehicles as a bystander, which is its own kind of case.
Retail, restaurant, and office work round out the rest. Slip and falls, repetitive strain injuries, and equipment accidents happen in these settings too, and the same subscriber and third-party questions apply regardless of how routine the workplace looks.
Compensation You Can Recover After a Workplace Accident
What you can recover depends on which path applies to your case. Workers’ comp benefits typically cover medical care and a portion of lost wages, but not pain and suffering. A successful third-party or non-subscriber claim can include:
- Full medical costs, past and future
- Complete lost wages and loss of earning capacity
- Pain and suffering and emotional distress
- Exemplary damages in limited cases involving gross negligence or intentional harm
The Cost of Hiring an Austin Workplace Accident Lawyer
Nothing upfront. We handle these cases on a contingency fee, which means you pay no attorney’s fees unless we recover compensation for you. Your initial consultation is free, with no obligation to hire us afterward.
How Long Do You Have to File a Claim in Texas?
A lawsuit against a non-subscriber employer or a third party generally follows Texas’s two-year statute of limitations. Workers’ comp claims run on a separate, much shorter timeline for reporting the injury and filing a claim, so don’t wait to find out which deadlines actually apply to your situation.
What to Do After a Workplace Accident in Austin
What you do in the first hours and days can affect both your health and your claim. Here’s what matters most:
- Get medical care right away, and report the injury to your employer in writing.
- Ask whether your employer carries workers’ comp, since that single fact changes your options.
- Photograph the scene, equipment, and any hazards before anything gets moved or repaired.
- Get the names and contact information of any witnesses.
- Avoid giving a recorded statement to any insurer before talking to a lawyer.
Why Austin Trusts George Salinas Injury Lawyers With Workplace Cases
A workplace injury case often means juggling a workers’ comp claim and a separate lawsuit simultaneously, with the carrier’s financial interests often working against yours. Getting this right takes more than a generic intake form; it takes real trial-tested strategy.
The Insider’s Advantage: Our team includes attorneys who previously represented insurance companies. We know exactly how carriers evaluate claims, how they attempt to minimize payouts, and the specific strategies they use to deny coverage. We preempt these tactics from Day 1 to build a stronger case for your recovery.
Proven Results: We bring over 110 years of combined legal experience and a track record of over $100 million recovered for our clients. We do not accept lowball offers; we build a detailed damage model based on facts and expert testimony.
Trial-Ready Authority: George Salinas is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA)—an elite, invitation-only group that requires extensive jury trial experience and peer approval.
Local Insight & 24/7 Service: We know how Travis County courts handle these claims across every industry. You will work directly with our legal team—never a call center—and we are available 24/7 to support you in English or Spanish.
Meet Our Top-Rated Austin Workplace Accident Attorneys
Ask George Salinas Injury Lawyers
Q: What if my employer doesn’t have workers’ comp at all?
A: Then you’re not limited to comp benefits. You can sue your employer directly for negligence, and Texas law removes several defenses, like blaming you or a coworker, that the employer would otherwise be able to raise.
Q: What if I’m classified as an independent contractor, not an employee?
A: That classification matters, but it’s not always accurate just because that’s what your paperwork says. Misclassified workers sometimes have more legal options than they realize, and it’s worth having that classification reviewed rather than assumed.
Q: Can I get fired for filing a workers’ comp claim in Texas?
A: No. Texas law prohibits retaliation against an employee for filing a workers’ comp claim in good faith, and a termination that looks retaliatory can become its own legal issue.
Q: What if I was hurt while driving for a delivery company like Amazon or FedEx?
A: That’s a workplace injury question, governed by the same subscriber and third-party rules as any other job. It’s a different situation from being hit by one of those companies’ vehicles as someone outside the company, which we cover on separate pages.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if I’m undocumented? Can I still file a workplace injury claim?
Yes. Immigration status doesn’t take away your right to pursue compensation for a workplace injury in Texas, whether through workers’ comp, a non-subscriber claim, or a third-party lawsuit.
Will my employer’s insurance try to settle quickly?
Sometimes, especially in straightforward cases. It’s worth talking to a lawyer before accepting anything, since an early offer rarely reflects the full extent of a serious injury.
What if I was partially at fault for the accident?
In a third-party or non-subscriber claim, you can still recover compensation as long as you’re found 50% or less at fault, though your payout is reduced by your percentage of responsibility. Workers’ comp benefits generally aren’t reduced for fault the same way.
Will my case go to trial?
Most claims settle before trial, but we prepare every case as though it’s headed to a jury. That preparation is often exactly what convinces the other side to offer a fair settlement instead of risking a verdict.
Schedule Your Free Consultation
If you were hurt on the job in Austin, don’t assume workers’ comp is your only option until you know for sure. Call George Salinas Injury Lawyers at (512) 851-1004 for a free consultation in English or Spanish. There’s no fee unless we win.