McAllen Work Injury Lawyer

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Work Injury Attorney in McAllen, TX

You got hurt on the job, and now the company says it does not carry workers’ comp, or someone from the office wants you to sign papers so your bills get paid. You are worried about the weeks you cannot work, whether it matters that you were rushing, and whether you can do anything at all.

In Texas, most private employers can choose not to carry workers’ compensation. If yours opted out, you can sue it for negligence, and it cannot blame the injury on your own carelessness. You generally have two years to file, but the papers the company hands you can matter much sooner.

Attorney Abraham Peña was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley and handles injury cases only, in English and in Spanish. Tell us what happened at work and what the company has asked you to sign, and we will explain your options before you decide anything.

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Work Injuries in McAllen

The Valley’s economy runs through warehouses, produce, cold storage and fields. Imported produce crosses at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge and moves into packing sheds and cold storage along Interstate 2 (Expressway 83) and Interstate 69C (US-281), and the injuries follow the work: forklift strikes on loading docks, falls from trailers and racking, hands caught in packing lines, back injuries from repetitive lifting, ammonia leaks, and slips on wet or icy cold storage floors.

Field work adds heat illness, machinery and pesticide exposure. Farm labor is often arranged through contractors and paid by the piece, but that does not take away a farmworker’s right to sue a negligent non-subscriber employer.

What to Do After a Work Injury

If you can, take these steps in the first days:

Get treated the same day. Tell the provider you were hurt at work; serious injuries go to DHR Health in Edinburg, the Valley’s Level I trauma center.
Report the injury in writing. Text or email your supervisor the date, time, place and what happened, and keep a copy.
Find out whether your employer has workers’ comp. Check the posted notice, or ask the Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation at coverage.verification@tdi.texas.gov.
Photograph the scene and the equipment. Do it before anything is moved or repaired, and write down who saw it happen.
Do not sign a release or give a recorded statement. Let us read it first.

Who Can Be Held Responsible for a Work Injury?

Your employer may not be the only one who owes you. We look at:

Your employer, if it does not carry workers’ compensation.
A trucking company whose driver backed a trailer into a dock worker.
The maker of a forklift or packing machine that was missing a guard.
A staffing agency or its client.
A property owner who knew about a hazard and did not fix it.
Contractors on a construction site (see our McAllen construction accident lawyer page).

We send a preservation letter the first week so the training files, maintenance logs and dock camera footage survive.

What If Your Employer Has No Workers’ Comp?

Texas lets most private employers opt out of workers’ compensation. An employer that does is called a non-subscriber, and it must tell you so in writing and post a notice at work. If yours opted out, three things follow:

You can sue it for negligence. You must show it failed to use ordinary care, such as skipping training or ignoring a known hazard, and a company occupational accident plan usually does not change that.
It cannot blame you. It may not argue that you were careless, that a coworker caused the injury, or that you accepted the risk, only that you were intoxicated or meant to hurt yourself. It may still say a hazard was open and obvious, but it must keep the workplace reasonably safe.
Waivers have strict limits. A waiver signed before the injury is void, and one signed afterward counts only if it meets strict conditions, including a wait of at least 10 business days after the injury report and a medical evaluation first. Our blog post Hurt at Work in Texas With No Workers’ Comp? explains more.

What You Can Recover After a Work Injury

A negligence claim against a non-subscriber employer or a third party can include:

Medical expenses, including emergency care and surgery
Future treatment, therapy and rehabilitation
Lost wages while you cannot work
Lost earning capacity if you cannot go back to the same job
Physical pain and mental anguish
Physical impairment and disfigurement
Wrongful death damages if a worker was killed (see our McAllen wrongful death lawyer page)

Exemplary damages are also possible on clear and convincing proof of gross negligence, subject to Texas’s cap. If workers’ comp paid you benefits, the carrier is repaid out of any third-party recovery up to what it paid, so that number has to be managed in any settlement.

How Long Do You Have to File, and Does Fault Matter?

You generally have two years from the date of injury to file a lawsuit, or two years from the date of death if a worker was killed. If a city, county or other governmental unit shares the blame, written notice is due within six months, and some city charters set an even shorter period.

Fault works two ways here. A non-subscriber employer cannot shrink your claim by pointing at your own mistake. Against a third party, Texas’s modified comparative fault rule applies: a share of fault up to half reduces your award by that percentage, and anything more bars it. If a jury awarded $250,000 against a third party and found you 40 percent at fault, you would receive $150,000.

FAQs

My employer says I cannot sue because I was partly at fault. Is that true?

Not if your employer is a non-subscriber. Texas law takes away its defenses that you were careless, that a coworker was to blame, or that you accepted the risk. You still have to prove the employer was negligent, but your own mistake does not end the claim.

I was paid in cash with no written contract. Do I still have a claim?

Yes. What matters is whether you were an employee doing work the company controlled, not how you were paid or whether you got a W-2. Text messages, schedules, supervisors’ instructions and coworkers can prove the relationship.

Someone from the company wants me to sign papers to get my bills paid. Should I?

Not before a lawyer reads them. Those papers may waive your right to sue, and a waiver signed after an injury can be enforced if it meets the legal conditions. Your bills can be paid without giving up your claim.

My employer does carry workers’ comp. Can I still sue anyone?

Usually not your employer, because comp benefits are your only remedy against it, but you can still bring a claim against a third party whose negligence hurt you. If a worker is killed by the employer’s gross negligence or intentional act, the surviving spouse and heirs may seek exemplary damages.

How much does it cost to hire a work injury lawyer?

You pay nothing upfront, and we will read the papers the company gave you at no charge. Our fee is contingent on the outcome: it comes out of what we recover, and if we recover nothing, you owe us no fee.

contact Attorney Abraham Peña