Workers' Compensation Insurance
Texas law does not require workers' compensation. However, your customers may require you to carry it.
Workers’ compensation insurance pays medical and income benefits to workers who are injured at work or have work-related diseases or illnesses.
This type of insurance protects workers by assuring that they are compensated for their injuries. It also helps employers because it relieves them of liability for claims and gives them certain legal protections, including immunity from most injury lawsuits.
Workers get benefits based on the type and severity of their injuries. There are four types of workers’ compensation benefits:
Income benefits pay a portion of a worker’s lost wages.
Medical benefits pay for medical care to treat the work injury.
Burial benefits pay for some funeral expenses.
Death benefits pay some lost wages to the family of a worker killed on the job.
Workers’ compensation does not pay for injuries that:
are intentional or self-inflicted.
result from horseplay or voluntary drug or alcohol intoxication.
result from voluntary participation in off-duty recreational, social, or sports events.
result from “acts of God,” unless the job has a high risk of injury from such acts.
are inflicted by someone else for personal reasons unrelated to employment.