Filing a Lowe’s Workers’ Compensation Claim in Houston

When you work at any job, you should reasonably expect that you will not get hurt. While no employer can protect you from every possibility of sustaining harm, you have the right to expect they will take precautions to make your workplace as reasonably safe as possible.

Filing a Lowe’s worker’s compensation claim in Houston is not the same as filing a workers’ compensation claim in many other places. In order to secure the compensation that you need and deserve, you need to work with an experienced work accident lawyer who has experience in non-subscriber claims.

The Weaknesses of Workers’ Compensation Claims

In most states, when people suffer a work-related injury or illness, they can file to collect workers’ compensation benefits from their employer’s insurance company. Workers’ compensation benefits would generally cover reasonable medical expenses and a portion of an employee’s lost wages, and the system makes the process simple for injured workers to collect what their employer owes them because the benefits are no-fault. Hurt employees do not need to prove that their employer caused their injury, they only need to show it was related to their workplace duties. However, workers’ compensation benefits do not include coverage for pain and suffering and other intangible losses.

In addition, workers’ compensation benefits are exclusive, which means when an injured Lowe’s worker collects these benefits, they cannot then sue their employer in civil court for additional damages.

How Workers’ Compensation Claim Work With Lowes in Texas

Texas operates differently: the state allows some private employers to opt out of the workers’ compensation system. When Houston employers like Lowe’s elect to be non-subscribers to the statewide system, they must agree to provide their own system of protection for injured employees. Non-subscriber employers can be more flexible with the benefits they offer injured workers.

Lawsuits Against Lowe’s

In addition, unlike with traditional workers’ comp programs, injured workers can sue non-subscriber employers for negligence, recklessness, gross or intentional misconduct. In these lawsuits, employers cannot defend themselves by arguing that the employee’s actions contributed to their injury. As long as the hurt worker can prove the employer was at least partly at fault for the accident that led to the injuries, the employer would be responsible for all of the employee’s damages.

For instance, even if a court determines a worker was 98 percent at fault for their injury, they could still award in the worker’s favor if the court concludes the employer’s failure to have a reasonably safe workplace was 2 percent responsible for the injury.

Lawsuits against non-subscriber employers can bring the possibility of significantly more compensation to injured employees because injured workers can also pursue non-economic damages, such as emotional anguish. The potential amount of recoverable damages is not limited by the state statute that outlines benefits.

Because filing a claim against a company like Lowe’s can be so different, working with a knowledgeable personal injury attorney is critical.

Talk to a Houston Attorney About Filing a Lowe’s Workers’ Compensation Suit

Filing a Lowe’s workers’ compensation claim in Houston is different than in most other states. Injured employees at Lowe’s are not generally covered by statewide workers’ compensation plans. To get the compensation you deserve, you need to work with a law firm that has the right skills and experience.

Talk to Schechter, Shaffer & Harris today about pursuing a claim.