The Need for Change in Work Comp Laws in Texas

I believe it was 1990 or thereabouts when I started working in Work Comp in Texas.At the time, it seemed like a lot of paperwork, and somewhat of a hassle.
Little did I know that those were, compared to now, the “salad days”, to borrow a term from the movie “Raising Arizona”. Toiling in the fields of Work Comp in Texas has gotten worse and worse. One of the big reasons is the passage of House Bill 7.  It is hard to imagine a more employer and insurance carrier friendly bill would be possible if the insurance carriers had been given carte blanche (from the French meaning “white document”) to write the most friendly terms possible for them, and conversely, the most unfriendly for the poor injured workers.

Part of the zeitgeist of the “NEW” work comp system is this big push to people injured workers back to work. I think that this is certainly something which is favorable to the employer, because, it is much easier to fire an injured worker if they return to work, than if they are not there to do anything “wrong”.

You must remember that Texas is a very “employer friendly” state. For one thing, Texas is the ONLY state of the fifty United States, that allows employers to opt out of being subscribers in the Work Comp system.

 And, what is the incentive to be a subscriber in Texas ? Consider this passage from the Texas Department of Insurance website :
http://www.tdi.state.tx.us/consumer/cb007.html

“

(Revised March 2006)

Employers purchase or obtain workers´ compensation coverage to pay the medical and income losses incurred by employees who are injured on the job. Since workers´ compensation insurance premiums can be a significant expense for Texas employers, many businesses are tempted to go without insurance or to buy cheaper “alternative” products. Texas is the only state in which purchasing workers´ compensation insurance is truly optional for most private employers. Employers who have chosen not to purchase or obtain workers´ compensation coverage for their employees are often referred to as “nonsubscribers” to the Texas workers´ compensation system.

The Texas Workers´ Compensation Act limits an employer´s legal liability for job-related injuries if the employer has a workers´ compensation policy from a licensed insurance company, has been certified to self-insure by the Texas Department of Insurance´s Division of Workers´ Compensation, or is a member of an approved workers´ compensation self-insurance group. Only companies specifically licensed to sell workers´ compensation insurance in Texas may legally offer such insurance. They may sell only the standard policy adopted by the Commissioner of Insurance.

Employers without workers´ compensation coverage – including those with alternative coverage – may face high damage awards if an employee is injured and can prove in court that the employer was negligent in any way.”

But, let’s face it…how many attorneys in Texas, take so-called “non-subscriber” cases?
VERY FEW!

The site also says the following :
“

Being a Nonsubscriber

If an employer chooses not to purchase workers´ compensation insurance or to self-insure, the employer forfeits certain “common-law” defenses if sued because of a work-related injury:

• The employer can´t use evidence to show that the employee´s own negligence or the negligence of another worker contributed to the accident.
• The employer can´t present evidence that the injured employee knew the risk of injury and voluntarily assumed it.

In addition, the employer could be liable to pay court judgments for pain and suffering and punitive damages.

An employer found negligent in any way bears full financial responsibility for the loss, even if the employee´s own negligence played a greater role in causing the injury. The employer also must pay defense-related legal expenses, such as attorney fees.”

Again, name ONE attorney currently accepting non-subscriber cases.

 More to the point though. there is this .
http://www.compsolutionsnetwork.com/nonsubscriber.htm

“

Only In TEXAS!
Texas is the only state in the Union where the majority of Texas businesses can elect to non-subscribe. Thanks to our historical fore fathers, this option has been available since 1913. However, there were not many employers who were interested in this option, or even knew about it until around the mid 1980’s when workers’ compensation cost in Texas escalated to some of the highest in the nation. Today approximately 44 percent of Texas businesses operate as non-subscribers. These employers can be found in almost every segment of today’s business community and have employees that range in size from one employee up to thousands. “

This means that, according to that source, ALMOST one out of every two employers, almost half ( 44%) are NON-subscribers !

There is even an association of “responsible nonsubscribers” with a website at
http://txans.org/

 On their questions page, they pose and answer this non-subscriber question :
“

Why do many businesses choose to provide benefits as nonsubscribers?

Businesses choose nonsubscription for a variety of reasons including:

• Cost Reduction - Nonsubscribers can escape many of the unnecessary costs associated with
  workers’ compensation by developing and maintaining a responsible nonsubscriber benefit program.
• Improved Healthcare - Nonsubscribers work with healthcare professionals to develop medical
  delivery programs to provide quality care at a reasonable cost.
• Improved Management - Nonsubscribers can customize their occupational injury benefit plan to
  improve the ability manage injury-related costs.
• Improved Safety & Care - Responsible nonsubscription requires employers to expend additional
  resources to prevent injuries and offer quality post-injury benefits and care.
• Survival - The fact of the matter is many businesses cannot survive our state’s record-breaking
  workers’ compensation costs and therefore choose nonsubscription as a means of survival. “

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EDITORIAL OPINION
Without a doubt, there is a serious need for drastic and dramatic change in Workers Comp laws, rules , and regulations in Texas. The system has become weighted AGAINST providers and AGAINST injured workers.

House Bill 7’s implementation is bad news for both healthcare providers and injured workers. What MUST happen is for the citizens of this state, the majority are working people, need to contact their representatives in Texas Congress and DEMAND change for the better. It’s time the hard working people of Texas quit being injured victims !