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Houston Workplace Accident Lawyer

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  • Legacy Experience – Over 30 Years
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  • Legacy Experience – Over 30 Years
  • White Glove Service
  • Personalized Support and Attention

Disclaimer: This content is provided for informational purposes only. This law firm does not handle workers’ compensation cases. Individuals seeking assistance with a workers’ compensation matter may be referred to another attorney or law firm that handles these types of cases.

Houston Workplace Accident LawyerTexas is the only state that lets most private employers opt out of workers’ compensation entirely. That single fact decides almost everything about your case after a work injury in Houston. If your employer opted out, you may be able to sue them directly, and the law strips them of their best defenses. If your employer carries coverage, you follow a different path with its own benefits, deadlines, and exceptions. Either way, you likely have more options than your supervisor or the company’s insurance carrier has told you.

Before you give a recorded statement or sign anything from the company, get a clear picture of which path you are on. At Sharma Injury Law, we will evaluate your case and tell you honestly where you stand. Call 281-893-8644 or contact us online to set it up.

Why Injured Houston Workers Choose Our Firm

Houston Workplace Accident LawyerPlant owners, general contractors, and their insurers treat injured workers as line items. Our firm does the opposite. For more than 30 years, injured Houstonians have come to us because they talk directly with the attorney handling their case, not a case manager or an answering service. You will never wonder who is working on your claim or wait weeks for a callback while your bills pile up. We also refuse to rush you toward whatever settlement closes the file fastest. Your case resolves when the number reflects what the injury actually took from you, and not a day before you are comfortable with it.

We are a multi-generational family firm. Founding attorney Bash Sharma built this practice, and his three daughters now carry it forward together. That same family commitment defines how we treat every client who walks through our door.

The First Question: Does Your Employer Carry Workers’ Comp?

The First Question: Does Your Employer Carry Workers' Comp?Employers can opt out of workers’ compensation coverage under Texas Labor Code § 406.002. Employers that carry workers’ compensation must post notice of coverage, and you can also verify coverage through the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation. The answer splits your case into one of two very different tracks.

If Your Employer Opted Out, the Law Tilts Toward You

Employers that skip workers’ comp are called non-subscribers, and they gamble to save money on premiums. When a non-subscriber’s employee gets hurt, Texas Labor Code § 406.033 takes away the defenses companies normally hide behind:

  • Contributory negligence: The company cannot escape liability by arguing you were partly careless. If their negligence contributed to your injury, they are on the hook.
  • Assumption of the risk: The company cannot argue you knew the job was dangerous and accepted that danger by showing up.
  • The fellow servant rule: The company cannot blame a coworker’s mistake to avoid paying you.

A non-subscriber case is a real lawsuit with real damages: full lost wages, all medical care, pain, and impairment. Many large Texas employers, including major retailers, are non-subscribers, and they defend these cases hard from day one.

If Your Employer Has Coverage, Watch for the Exception

If Your Employer Has Coverage, Watch for the ExceptionWhen an employer subscribes to workers’ comp, Texas Labor Code § 408.001 generally makes those benefits your only claim against the employer itself. The benefits cover medical care and a portion of lost wages, but nothing for pain or diminished quality of life.

One exception matters enormously: if a worker dies because of the employer’s gross negligence, the family can still sue for exemplary damages, damages meant to punish the employer rather than simply compensate for loss, despite the coverage. In plant and refinery deaths, that exception comes up more often than employers would like to admit.

Third Parties Can Be Sued No Matter What

Workers’ comp only shields the employer. Anyone else whose negligence contributed to your injury can be sued in a standard personal injury claim, even while you collect comp benefits. In Houston, third-party defendants show up constantly:

  • A subcontractor on a construction site who ignored safety protocols
  • The manufacturer of a defective forklift, crane, scaffold, or machine guard
  • A chemical supplier that mislabeled or improperly shipped hazardous material
  • The owner or operator of a plant where a contractor’s employee was injured
  • A driver who hit you while you were working on or near a roadway

Third-party claims often carry far more value than comp benefits because they include pain, mental anguish, and full lost earning capacity. Missing one is the single most expensive mistake injured workers make.

What Happens After You Call Our Firm

What Happens After You Call Our FirmWe start by securing your medical records, the incident report, and any witness statements before they disappear. At the same time, we identify who is actually responsible, whether that’s a non-subscriber employer, a subcontractor, or an equipment manufacturer, since more than one path often applies.

From there, we handle all communication with the comp carrier or third-party insurer so you are not fielding calls while you recover. Most cases resolve through negotiation, but we are prepared to take yours to trial if a fair settlement is not on the table.

Where Houston Workers Get Hurt

Where Houston Workers Get HurtThis region concentrates some of the most dangerous work in the country. The refineries and chemical plants lining the Ship Channel through Pasadena, Deer Park, and Baytown expose workers to explosions, toxic releases, and burns. The Port of Houston keeps thousands of dockers and truck drivers moving heavy cargo around the clock, and dock and vessel workers may fall under federal maritime laws with their own rules and remedies. 

Add a construction market that rarely slows down and the constant lifting injuries inside the Texas Medical Center, and Houston produces nearly every category of serious work injury. Where you were hurt affects which laws apply, which is why the facts of the injury matter as much as the injury itself.

Three Deadlines Run at the Same Time

Work injury cases involve separate clocks, and missing any one of them can end a claim:

Report the injury in writing, even if the company promises to take care of you. Verbal promises disappear the moment a claim gets expensive.

Frequently Asked Questions About Houston Workplace Accident Claims

Can You Be Fired for Filing a Claim?

Retaliation for filing a workers’ comp claim in good faith is illegal under Texas Labor Code § 451.001, and a worker fired for it can sue for lost wages and other damages. Texas is an at-will employment state, so employers sometimes invent other reasons, but timing and documentation often expose what really happened.

Can You Recover If You Are an Undocumented Worker?

Yes. Immigration status does not bar injury claims or comp benefits in Texas, and companies that suggest otherwise are usually trying to scare you out of a valid claim.

What If the Company Calls You an Independent Contractor?

The label on your paperwork does not settle it. Courts look at who controlled the details of your work, and many workers labeled contractors are employees in the eyes of the law. Misclassification is common in construction and delivery work precisely because it helps companies dodge responsibility.

Does It Matter That You Were Not Wearing Safety Gear?

Against a non-subscriber employer, no. The company cannot use your own carelessness as a defense. In a third-party claim, your share of fault can reduce your recovery, so the details deserve a careful look rather than an assumption that you have no case.

Do Not Let the Company Write the Story of Your Injury

Right now, someone at that company is drafting an incident report you may never see, and their version rarely favors you. The longer you wait, the more that version becomes the official one.

Our team at Sharma Injury Law holds Houston employers, contractors, and plant owners accountable. Call 281-893-8644 or contact us online and tell us your side first.

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Get the Support You Need From a Houston Injury Lawyer

Whether your injury occurred on a Houston highway, at a local business, or elsewhere in Harris County, acting promptly protects your right to pursue fair compensation. Evidence disappears, witnesses move on, and the statute of limitations does not pause while you weigh your options.

Bash Sharma founded this firm more than 30 years ago on a straightforward idea: that injured people in Houston deserve the same quality of representation as anyone else, regardless of their circumstances. His daughters carry that commitment forward today.

When you call Sharma Injury Law, you are not reaching a call center or a volume practice. You are reaching a family that has spent three decades fighting for people in situations just like yours. Call us today at 281-893-8644 to schedule a consultation, or connect with us online to get started.

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Sharma Injury Law – Established in 1994