In Texas, private employers may legally opt out of workers’ compensation, so the first question after a salon, restaurant, warehouse, or other workplace injury is whether your employer carries it. If it does, benefits are no-fault but limited. If it does not, you can sue for the employer’s negligence, and the employer loses its main defenses under Labor Code section 406.033.
Step One: Find Out Whether Your Employer Carries Comp
Texas is the only state where a private employer may opt out of workers’ compensation (Labor Code section 406.002). Everything about your claim, including who you can sue and what you can recover, changes depending on the answer.
Ask human resources or the owner directly, look for the coverage notice employers are supposed to post, and check the paperwork you received when you were hired. The Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation can also confirm whether a specific employer is a subscriber.
Watch for a plan that is not workers’ compensation at all. Some employers offer a private occupational accident or injury benefit plan with its own booklet, its own network of doctors, and its own deadlines. Those plans are private contracts, not the state system, and the rules that apply to them are different. Bring the booklet to your consultation.
If There Is Workers’ Compensation
Workers’ compensation is no-fault. You do not have to prove that the employer did anything wrong, and being partly careless yourself generally does not disqualify you. It pays medical treatment for the work injury and a portion of lost income.
What it does not pay is pain and suffering, and in exchange for coverage you generally cannot sue your employer for negligence. That trade-off is the whole design of the system, and it is why the third-party question below matters so much.
Texas workers’ compensation covers both citizens and non-citizens, including undocumented workers. Immigration status does not adversely affect your rights.
Worker’s comp has its own reporting and filing deadlines, and they are far shorter than the two-year deadline for a lawsuit. Report the injury to a supervisor in writing as soon as you can, keep a copy, and confirm current filing dates with a lawyer or with the Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation.
If There Is No Workers’ Comp: The Non-Subscriber Claim
If your employer opted out, it is a non-subscriber, and you may sue it directly for negligence. Under Labor Code section 406.033, the employer loses three of the defenses that ordinarily protect it: contributory negligence, assumption of the risk, and the fellow-servant rule.
That is a significant advantage, but it is not automatic liability. You still have to prove the employer was negligent and that its negligence caused your injury. Unsafe equipment kept in service, no training, no guarding, understaffing that forces unsafe shortcuts, and ignored complaints are the facts that carry these cases.
A waiver you signed before you were injured is void under section 406.033. Employees are routinely handed stacks of onboarding paperwork, and a pre-injury agreement not to sue does not end your claim. Bring it in and let a lawyer read it.
A non-subscriber claim is a personal injury lawsuit, so the deadline is two years from the injury under CPRC section 16.003, and unlike workers’ comp, it can include pain and suffering.
Third-Party Claims: The Part People Miss
Even when workers’ comp covers you and you cannot sue your employer, you may have a claim against someone else whose product or conduct injured you. That claim is a full personal injury case, including non-economic and economic damages.
Common third parties in service and light-industrial work include equipment and machinery manufacturers, chemical manufacturers and suppliers whose labeling or warnings were inadequate, maintenance contractors, staffing agencies and the companies they place workers with, the owner or manager of the building, and the driver or employer of another company’s vehicle.
If workers’ comp paid your benefits, the workers’ comp insurance carrier holds a lien on your third-party recovery, reduced by attorney’s fees (Labor Code sections 417.001 and 417.003). That lien is part of the math on any settlement, and it is one of the reasons the two claims should be handled together rather than separately.
What These Injuries Look Like
In salons, the recurring issues are chemical exposure and repetitive strain. Acrylic monomers, solvents, adhesives, disinfectants, and airborne dust from the filing of nails, accumulate in rooms with poor ventilation, and symptoms show up as skin irritation, headaches, and breathing problems. Long shifts of precise handwork produce wrist, hand, neck, and shoulder injuries. Wet floors and pedicure equipment cause falls and burns.
In restaurants, the pattern is burns and slips, trips, and falls. Fryer oil, steam, hot pans, and dish machines cause thermal injuries. Grease and water on tile cause falls, often while carrying something. Knife lacerations, back injuries from lifting stock and pulling deliveries, and injuries from broken glass and walk-in cooler doors round out the list.
In warehouses, the injuries tend to be more severe. Lifting and repetitive motion cause back and shoulder injuries. Falls happen from ladders, mezzanines, and loading docks. Forklifts and pallet jacks strike workers on foot. Improperly stacked stock falls, and unguarded or poorly maintained machinery cause crush and amputation injuries.
Not every injury happens in one moment. Chemical exposure and repetitive strain build over months, which makes dating the injury and connecting it to the work a central issue. That is a medical documentation problem and it is solved by describing your job honestly to the doctor from the first visit.
What to Do Now
Report the injury to a supervisor in writing and keep a copy, even if you plan to keep on working. Get medical care and tell the provider exactly what you do all day and what you were doing when the injury occurred. Photograph the equipment, the area, and any warning labels or the absence of them.
Write down the names of coworkers who saw it or who complained about the same hazard before. Ask for the safety data sheet for any chemical you work with. Keep your pay records so lost income can be calculated. If you are given forms to sign, read them and ask what plan they belong to.
A work injury claim can involve workers’comp, a non-subscriber suit, and a third-party case at the same time, and the deadlines are not the same. A consultation at Jim Ross Law Group is free, in person or by phone at 817-275-4100, and there is no fee unless we win.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find out if my employer has workers' compensation?
Ask the owner or human resources directly, look for the posted coverage notice at the workplace, and check your hiring paperwork. The Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation can confirm whether a specific employer is a subscriber. Do this early, because the answer decides whether you file a workers’ comp claim or a negligence lawsuit against the employer.
My boss offered to pay my medical bills if I do not file a claim. Should I take it?
Be careful. An informal promise is not coverage, it usually stops when the bills grow, and it does not pay lost wages or account for future treatment. Nothing prevents an employer from helping, but get any agreement in writing and have a lawyer review it before you give up a claim or sign anything releasing the employer.
Can I be fired for reporting a work injury?
Texas law prohibits retaliation against an employee for filing a workers’ compensation claim in good faith. Protections are narrower where the employer is a non-subscriber, and Texas is otherwise an at-will employment state. If you were fired or had hours cut after reporting an injury, write down the dates and what was said and by whom it was said, and have the facts reviewed promptly.
I have had wrist and hand pain for months from salon work. Is that a claim?
It can be. Repetitive strain injuries are work injuries even though there is no single accident. The difficulties are dating the injury and connecting it to the job, which is why it matters to describe your daily tasks, hours, and tools to your doctor from the first visit. Get evaluated rather than waiting for it to resolve on its own.
A forklift hit me but the driver worked for a different company. Who pays?
That is a third-party claim, and it is a full personal injury case against the driver and their employer, including all damages. You may also have a workers’ compensation claim through your own employer at the same time. If workers’ comp pays benefits, its insurance carrier holds a lien on the third-party recovery, reduced by attorney’s fees.
Does the workers' comp insurer get paid back if I recover from someone else?
Yes. Under Labor Code sections 417.001 and 417.003, the workers’ comp carrier holds a lien on your third-party recovery, and that lien which can be negotiated, is reduced by attorney’s fees. The practical effect is that the workers’ comp claim and the third-party claim should be negotiated together, since the lien directly affects what reaches you at the end.
I signed a paper when I was hired saying I could not sue. Does that count?
Under Labor Code section 406.033, an agreement by an employee to waive a cause of action against a non-subscribing employer before the injury occurs is void. Onboarding packets frequently contain one anyway. Bring the document to a consultation rather than assuming it ended your claim, because what a paper says and what it does are different questions.
What if I was hurt cleaning up after closing, off the clock?
Work done for the employer’s benefit is generally still work, whether or not you were being paid for that hour. Off-the-clock disputes are common in restaurants and salons, and they are resolved with facts: who asked you to stay, what you were doing, and whether it was routine. Write down those details while they are fresh.
This page is for general information only and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different and past results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case. Jim Ross Law Group, P.C., 2201 E Lamar Blvd #110, Arlington, TX 76006.