Houston Workers’ Compensation Lawyer
Injured at work in Houston? Sara Roque navigates Texas’s unique workers’ comp system — and pursues third-party claims that go beyond comp to maximize your total recovery.
Texas is unique
Texas is the only state that doesn’t require employers to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Many Houston employers opt out — giving you the right to sue directly for negligence.
Medical benefits
Workers’ comp covers all medically necessary treatment for work injuries. Sara fights insurance carrier attempts to deny or delay medical care.
Income benefits
Temporary Income Benefits (TIBs) replace 70% of lost wages. Sara maximizes your income benefits and fights impairment ratings that undervalue your injuries.
Third-party claims
If someone other than your employer caused your injury (another contractor, equipment manufacturer, property owner), you can sue them for full damages beyond workers’ comp limits.
Disputed claims
Insurance carriers routinely dispute compensability, deny injuries, and cut off benefits. Sara represents injured workers before the Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation.
Death benefits
When a worker is killed on the job, Sara pursues death benefits for surviving family and evaluates third-party wrongful death claims beyond the comp system.
TEXAS WORKERS’ COMP SYSTEM
What Injured Houston Workers Need to Know
Texas workers’ comp is administered by the Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC). Disputes go through an administrative process before reaching courts. Sara represents workers at every level.
Report immediately
Report your injury to your employer within 30 days or risk losing benefits. Sara advises on the reporting process to protect your claim.
Authorized treating doctors
Workers’ comp uses a network of authorized doctors. Sara helps you navigate the treating doctor selection and fight referral denials.
Impairment ratings
A doctor’s impairment rating determines lifetime benefits. Insurance companies use doctors who give low ratings. Sara challenges unfair impairment ratings through the DWC dispute process.
No attorney fees until we win. If we don’t win, you pay nothing.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can sue your employer directly for negligence. As a non-subscriber case, the employer loses important tort defenses. Sara pursues non-subscriber cases aggressively, often recovering far more than comp would provide.
Workers’ comp has a treating doctor network, but you have rights within that network. You can change treating doctors with proper procedures. Sara guides you through doctor selection to ensure proper treatment.
Occupational diseases, repetitive stress injuries, and latent conditions that develop over time are covered. The reporting clock runs from when you knew or should have known the injury was work-related.
Retaliation for filing a workers’ comp claim is illegal in Texas. If you were fired, demoted, or harassed after filing a claim, Sara pursues the retaliation claim alongside your workers’ comp case.
If someone other than your direct employer caused your injury (another contractor on site, a vehicle driver, an equipment manufacturer), you can sue them for full damages while still collecting workers’ comp.
Impairment income benefits, lifetime income benefits, and supplemental income benefits are all calculated from your impairment rating and pre-injury wages. Sara challenges low ratings to maximize every category.
Denied claims go through the DWC dispute resolution process — benefit review conferences, contested case hearings, and appeals. Sara represents workers at every level of the dispute process.
You must report the injury within 30 days and file the claim within 1 year of the injury (or last payment of benefits). For occupational disease, 1 year from when you knew the condition was work-related.
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