Lubbock, TX — Last December, OSHA reported a fatal on-the-job accident in the eastern part of the city. They have recently released a report confirming that a worker died on December 6, 2014 after falling from the roof of what appears to be a local business.
The man worked for Sanders Mechanical & Construction, which is based out of Lubbock. Right now, it’s clear how or why the accident happened, but a worker on a roof apparently fell down and died from his injuries.
His name hasn’t been released and there wasn’t any mention of “Sander’s Mechanical & Construction” in the news that might’ve cleared things up.
Commentary:
On my own, I did a little bit of checking on this company, and it doesn’t appear that they are subscribers to the Texas Workers’ Compensation program. That could be because it’s a very small company or because the company simply chose not to carry workers’ comp insurance.
Now, in some situations, people would construe that as a bad thing, but I’d like to briefly explain why that’s not the case. When an employer subscribes to workers’ comp coverage for their employees, they’re effectively stripping the workers of their legal right to sue. Should anything go wrong, the employer need only prove that the accident happened on the job and that he is a subscriber to workers’ comp coverage. That gives injured workers and their families access to “adequate” benefits.
Unfortunately, the benefits aren’t all that inclusive, so to speak, as it’s more of a bare-bones package than a full coverage package. I don’t have time to go into all the details now, but suffice it to say that Texas lawmakers have seen fit to protect employers from lawsuits when they cause accidents, all in the name of progressing local business and the economy. For example, instead of being able to file a lawsuit against your employer when things go south, you’re just eligible to get around 80% of your weekly income, or the state average, whichever is lower. That doesn’t sound fair, right?
As you can tell, I have some strong feelings about this subject and have more words here than I have room or time to write. But, let just wrap this up by saying that workers’ comp benefits probably won’t apply to this situation if it turns out that the employer is a “non-subscriber.” That can be good news for an injured worker or their family, but it might also mean that there’s no hope for recovery.
— Grossman Law Offices
