Traumatic Brain Injury on the Job: An Austin TBI Attorney Can Help
Traumatic Brain Injury on the Job: An Austin TBI Attorney Can Help
A traumatic brain injury can happen in a split second, but its impact can last a lifetime — affecting not just your ability to work, but your family. For a workplace TBI in Texas, one fact matters more than almost anything else: whether your employer carries workers’ compensation insurance, because it directly determines whether you can recover the full cost of a lifelong injury or only a capped, partial benefit.
High-Risk Jobs, Higher Consequences
Certain industries carry a meaningfully higher risk of head injury: construction, manufacturing, transportation, firefighting, law enforcement, and warehousing among them. Even with real safety measures in place, falls, falling objects, and equipment accidents still happen — and given how many Texas employers in these exact industries choose not to carry workers’ comp, the stakes of a serious head injury are often higher here than the physical risk alone would suggest.
Why the Non-Subscriber Question Matters So Much for a TBI
A serious traumatic brain injury often means years of treatment, lost future earning capacity, and a permanently changed quality of life. Workers’ compensation benefits, even when available, are capped and don’t include pain and suffering — a real gap for an injury this serious. If your employer is a non-subscriber, you can instead pursue a direct negligence lawsuit, and Texas Labor Code § 406.033 removes several defenses a non-subscribing employer would otherwise raise (that you were partly at fault, that you assumed the risk, or that a coworker was to blame). A successful claim can recover full past and future medical costs, complete lost earning capacity, and pain and suffering — damages that actually reflect what a lifelong brain injury costs.
The Impact on Workers and Families
TBIs can devastate more than the person injured — the physical, emotional, and financial toll extends to the whole family. Long-term effects on cognition, mood, and physical ability are common, which is exactly why the value of a claim needs to account for the full trajectory of the injury, not just current medical bills.
Navigating the Claims Process
Filing a traumatic brain injury claim is genuinely complex, whether it runs through workers’ comp or a non-subscriber lawsuit. An experienced attorney can:
- Confirm your employer’s subscriber status and determine which legal path — or paths — apply
- Gather evidence of what caused the injury and, for a non-subscriber claim, evidence of the employer’s negligence
- Work with medical experts to project the true long-term cost of the injury, not just current treatment
- Negotiate with insurers or the employer for full value, and litigate if necessary
Immediate Steps to Take After a Workplace Brain Injury
- Seek medical attention immediately — TBI symptoms can worsen or only become apparent after the fact
- Report the incident to your employer as soon as possible, in writing
- Document everything — medical treatment, cognitive or physical symptoms, lost wages, and related expenses
Get the Help You Need
Don’t navigate this complex process alone. A brain injury deserves an attorney who understands both Texas’s unusual non-subscriber system and how to actually value a catastrophic injury.
Need an experienced brain injury lawyer in Austin? Call (512) 246-9191 or contact us today for a free consultation.
About Andrew Traub
