SERIOUS ATTORNEYS FOR SERIOUS INJURIES
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A workplace injury can change your life in an instant. Whether you slipped on a wet warehouse floor off US-380, got hurt on a construction site near McKinney’s Craig Ranch area, or suffered a repetitive stress injury at a distribution center close to the Sam Rayburn Tollway, the pain is real and the financial pressure starts immediately. Texas law gives injured workers real rights, but those rights are only as strong as the steps you take to protect them. Personal injury lawyers at Chandler Ross Injury Attorneys in Denton, Texas work with injured workers in McKinney and across Collin County to pursue fair compensation after workplace accidents.
Table of Contents
- How Texas Workers’ Compensation Works, and Why It Matters for McKinney Workers
- What Non-Subscriber Employers in McKinney Cannot Use as a Defense Against You
- Common Workplace Injuries McKinney Workers Face and the Damages You Can Recover
- The Deadline Rules That Can End Your McKinney Workplace Injury Claim
- Why McKinney Workplace Injury Victims Should Contact Chandler Ross Injury Attorneys
- FAQs About McKinney Workplace Injury Claims
How Texas Workers’ Compensation Works, and Why It Matters for McKinney Workers
Texas is the only state in the country where workers’ compensation insurance is optional for most private employers. The Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (TDI-DWC) oversees the system, but in Texas, private employers can choose whether to provide workers’ compensation insurance coverage, and those that choose not to are known as non-subscribers.
When your employer does carry workers’ compensation, that coverage provides lost wages and medical benefits if you are hurt on the job. Having a workers’ compensation insurance policy provides lost wages and medical benefits to employees hurt on the job, and except in cases of gross negligence resulting in a fatality, workers’ compensation insurance coverage limits an employer’s liability if an employee sues for damages.
This matters because it directly shapes your legal options. If your employer subscribes to the workers’ compensation system, your claim generally goes through TDI-DWC rather than through a personal injury lawsuit. If your employer is a non-subscriber, the rules are very different, and you may have a direct negligence claim against them in civil court.
Under Texas Labor Code Section 409.003, you must file a claim for compensation with the division no later than one year after the date the injury occurred. For occupational diseases, that one-year clock starts from the date you knew or should have known the condition was related to your job. Missing this deadline can relieve your employer and their insurance carrier of all liability. Do not wait to act.
If you are unsure whether your McKinney employer carries workers’ compensation coverage, the Texas Open Data Portal maintains a publicly searchable list of registered non-subscribers. You can also contact the TDI-DWC coverage verification team by email. Knowing your employer’s status is the first step toward understanding your legal path forward.
What Non-Subscriber Employers in McKinney Cannot Use as a Defense Against You
When your McKinney employer does not carry workers’ compensation insurance, they lose powerful legal defenses that subscribing employers get to keep. This shift in the law puts real leverage in your hands as an injured worker.
Under Texas Labor Code Section 406.033, in Texas, private employers can choose whether to provide workers’ compensation insurance coverage, and those that choose not to are known as non-subscribers. Those non-subscribers face a drastically different legal situation in court. Specifically, Texas Labor Code Section 406.033(a) states that when an employee sues a non-subscriber employer for a workplace injury, the employer cannot argue that the employee was guilty of contributory negligence, that the employee assumed the risk of injury, or that the injury was caused by the negligence of a fellow employee.
Think about what that means in practice. Say you were working alongside a coworker on a job site near McKinney’s Eldorado Parkway corridor and your coworker made a mistake that caused your injury. Under the workers’ compensation system, that might limit your recovery. Against a non-subscriber employer, that argument is completely off the table by law.
The employer can still defend itself by arguing the injury was caused by the employee’s own intentional act or that the employee was intoxicated at the time. But contributory negligence, assumption of risk, and fellow-servant liability are gone as defenses. Under Section 406.033(d), you must prove the employer or one of its agents was negligent, but once you do that, those three major defenses cannot be raised against you.
There is also an important protection against waiver. Under Section 406.033(e), a cause of action cannot be waived by an employee before an injury or death occurs. Any agreement signed before the injury that tries to waive these rights is void and unenforceable. If your employer handed you paperwork to sign before you started the job that purported to give up your right to sue, that document has no legal force.
These protections are significant, but you still need to prove negligence. An attorney can help you build that case.
Common Workplace Injuries McKinney Workers Face and the Damages You Can Recover
Workplace injuries in McKinney and throughout Collin County happen across many industries. Construction workers building new developments near the US-75 corridor face falls, equipment strikes, and electrical hazards. Warehouse and logistics employees near the McKinney National Airport area deal with forklift accidents, overexertion, and repetitive motion injuries. Healthcare workers at medical facilities throughout the city face patient handling injuries and workplace violence.
The numbers behind workplace injuries in Texas are significant. According to estimates from the 2024 Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, Texas private industry employers reported 172,800 total recordable nonfatal cases, representing an incidence rate of 1.7 cases per 100 equivalent full-time employees, the lowest rate in the last 10 years. Even so, that still represents tens of thousands of real people with real injuries.
Fatal injuries remain a serious concern. In 2024, there were 557 fatal occupational injuries in Texas, with a fatality incident rate of 3.9 per 100,000 full-time employees. The most common location for a fatal injury is on transportation infrastructure, accounting for 41% of all fatal injuries, while industrial places and premises account for 17%, and construction or maintenance sites account for 15%.
When you have a negligence claim against a non-subscriber employer, you are not limited to the capped benefits the workers’ compensation system provides. You can pursue compensation for medical expenses, both current and future. You can recover lost wages and reduced earning capacity. Pain and suffering, mental anguish, and physical impairment are all recoverable damages in a civil claim. These are categories that the workers’ compensation system simply does not pay.
If a loved one died in a workplace accident, a wrongful death claim may also be available. Families dealing with catastrophic losses deserve full accountability, not just a capped death benefit. The attorneys at Chandler Ross Injury Attorneys are ready to review your situation and help you understand what compensation you may be entitled to pursue. Past results in other cases do not guarantee any particular outcome in your case, as results depend on the specific facts and law involved.
The Deadline Rules That Can End Your McKinney Workplace Injury Claim
Deadlines in Texas workplace injury law are strict, and missing them can cost you everything. There are two separate sets of deadlines depending on whether you are dealing with the workers’ compensation system or a civil lawsuit against a non-subscriber employer.
For workers’ compensation claims, Texas Labor Code Section 409.003 requires you to file a claim with the TDI-DWC no later than one year after the date of injury. For occupational diseases, the clock starts when you knew or should have known the disease was related to your employment. Under Section 409.002, you also have a duty to notify your employer of the injury. Failing to give proper notice can relieve the employer and their insurance carrier of liability, unless the employer had actual knowledge of the injury, the division finds good cause for the delay, or the employer does not contest the claim.
For civil lawsuits against non-subscriber employers, the general personal injury statute of limitations under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003 gives you two years from the date of injury to file suit. Two years sounds like a long time, but it passes quickly when you are focused on recovering from a serious injury.
Evidence also gets harder to preserve as time passes. Surveillance footage from job sites near McKinney’s Collin County area gets overwritten. Witnesses move on. Incident reports get buried. The sooner you contact an attorney, the better your chances of preserving the evidence you need.
Do not assume that because you reported the injury to your employer, your legal rights are automatically protected. Reporting to your employer and filing a formal legal claim are two different things. If you were hurt at work anywhere in the McKinney area and are unsure about your deadlines, call Chandler Ross Injury Attorneys at (940) 800-2500 today for a free consultation.
Why McKinney Workplace Injury Victims Should Contact Chandler Ross Injury Attorneys
Workplace injury claims in Texas are not simple. The law treats employees of subscriber employers differently from those of non-subscribers. Third-party liability claims, which arise when someone other than your employer caused your injury, add another layer of complexity. Under Texas Labor Code Section 417.004, an employer is generally not liable to a third party for reimbursement or damages based on a judgment or settlement unless the employer had a prior written agreement to assume that liability. These overlapping rules require careful analysis of your specific situation.
Chandler Ross Injury Attorneys, located at 110 N. Woodrow Ln, Ste 120, Denton, TX 76205, serves injured workers in McKinney and throughout Collin County. The firm handles personal injury claims for people hurt in workplace accidents, including those involving construction sites, commercial vehicles, and premises hazards. If your workplace injury involved a delivery truck, a commercial vehicle, or a negligent third party on a job site, those claims may overlap with other areas of personal injury law that the firm handles for McKinney clients.
Getting legal help early matters. An attorney can check your employer’s workers’ compensation subscriber status, assess whether a non-subscriber claim applies, identify any third-party defendants, and make sure all deadlines are met. The firm works on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay no attorney’s fees unless compensation is recovered in your case.
McKinney is a fast-growing city, and with that growth comes more construction, more commercial activity, and more workplace risk. Workers near the Collin County Courthouse on Courthouse Square or employed across the sprawling industrial and commercial corridors along US-75 deserve to know their rights. Chandler Ross Injury Attorneys is ready to help. Call (940) 800-2500 or visit the firm’s office in Denton to talk through your situation with no obligation.
Attorney responsible for this content: Chandler Ross, Chandler Ross Injury Attorneys, 110 N. Woodrow Ln, Ste 120, Denton, TX 76205. Chandler Ross is licensed to practice law in Texas. Results in any individual case depend on the specific facts and law applicable to that case. No past result implies or guarantees a similar outcome in any future matter.
FAQs About McKinney Workplace Injury Claims
Does my McKinney employer have to carry workers’ compensation insurance?
No. Texas is unique in that most private employers can choose whether to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Employers that carry it are called subscribers, and those that do not are called non-subscribers. Under Texas Labor Code Section 406.003, coverage is optional for most private-sector employers. If your employer is a non-subscriber, you may have the right to file a direct negligence lawsuit against them in civil court, which can result in broader compensation than the workers’ compensation system provides.
What if my McKinney employer is a non-subscriber and claims I caused my own injury?
Texas Labor Code Section 406.033 removes three major defenses from non-subscriber employers. They cannot argue that you were contributorily negligent, that you assumed the risk of the job, or that a fellow employee caused the injury. You still need to prove your employer was negligent, but those three defenses are gone by law. An employer can only defend by showing you intentionally injured yourself or that you were intoxicated at the time of the accident.
How long do I have to file a workplace injury claim in Texas?
If you are pursuing a workers’ compensation claim, Texas Labor Code Section 409.003 requires you to file with the TDI-DWC within one year of the date of injury. For occupational diseases, the clock runs from when you knew or should have known the condition was job-related. If you are suing a non-subscriber employer in civil court, the general two-year personal injury statute of limitations under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003 applies. Missing either deadline can eliminate your legal rights entirely.
Can I sue someone other than my employer after a McKinney workplace injury?
Yes, in many cases. If a third party, such as a contractor, equipment manufacturer, or commercial vehicle driver, caused or contributed to your injury, you may have a separate claim against that party regardless of your employer’s workers’ compensation status. These are called third-party claims. Texas Labor Code Chapter 417 governs how those claims interact with workers’ compensation benefits. An attorney can identify all potential defendants and help you pursue every avenue of recovery available under Texas law.
What should I do immediately after a workplace injury in McKinney?
Report the injury to your employer in writing as soon as possible. Seek medical attention right away, both for your health and to create a medical record linking your injury to the workplace accident. Take photographs of the scene, the hazard that caused your injury, and any visible injuries. Collect contact information from any witnesses. Do not sign any documents from your employer or their insurance company without first consulting an attorney. Then call Chandler Ross Injury Attorneys at (940) 800-2500 to understand your rights before the legal deadlines begin to run.
