Department of Environmental Health and Safety

You must tell your employer within 30 days of the date you were injured, or within 30 days of the date you first knew your illness might be work-related. You, or someone helping you, may either talk with or write your employer or any supervisor where you work.

You must send a completed claim form, called a TWCC-41, to the Commission within one year of the date you were injured, or within one year of the date you first knew your illness might be work-related. Send the completed claim form to the Commission even if you are already getting benefits. If you do not send the form within one year, you could lose your right to get benefits. For a copy of the form, call the field office handling your claim, or call 1-800-252-7031.

If you are not getting benefits and you have changed employers since your injury, tell the Commission if your injury causes you to miss work or lose income. Call 1-800-252-7031. If you are getting benefits and you have changed employers since your injury, tell the Commission and the insurance carrier paying your benefits if your income changes. Tell the Commission and the regardless of whether your income went up or down. If you have stopped working since your injury, tell the Commission and the insurance carrier if you start working again or if you have a job offer.

If possible, tell the doctor before the doctor treats you.

You should contact the Commission and the insurance carrier if your home address, work address, or phone number change, so the Commission and the insurance carrier will be able to contact you when necessary.

You may receive benefits regardless of who caused or helped cause your injury. You may not receive benefits if your injury occurred while you were intoxicated, you injured yourself intentionally or while unlawfully attempting to injure someone else, you were injured by another person for personal reasons, you were injured while voluntarily participating in an off-work activity, you were injured by an act of God, or your injury occurred during horseplay.

You have the right to receive the medical care reasonable and necessary to treat your work-related injury or illness for the rest of your life.

You may not change doctors except with the approval of the Commission. You do not need to get approval to go to a different doctor for emergency treatment, if you or your doctor moves or if your doctor is unable to continue treating you.

You have the right to hire an attorney to help you get benefits or to help you resolve disputes.

You have the right to receive information and assistance regarding your claim. Commission staff will explain your rights and responsibilities under the Texas Workers' Compensation Act. Additionally, you have the right to be assisted by a Commission ombudsman in informal dispute resolutions and in administrative proceedings if you are not represented. However, an ombudsman cannot serve as a legal representative or attorney for you.

Only people who need to know - such as your doctor, your employer or your employer's insurance carrier - may see information in the Commission's files. A prospective employer may get limited information from the commission from the commission about your claims. If you wish someone who is assisting you to have access to your file, you must provide written approval for them to do so.