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Know Your Rights Under Texas Workers' Compensation
1. You may have the right to receive benefits. You may receive benefits regardless of who was at fault for your injury with certain exceptions, such as:
- You were intoxicated at the time of the injury
- You injured yourself on purpose or while trying to injure someone else
- You were injured by another person for personal reasons
- You were injured by an act of God
- Your injury occurred during horseplay
- Your injury occurred while voluntarily participating in an off-work activity.
2. You have the right to receive medical care to treat your workplace injury or illness. There is no time limit for this medical care.
3. You have the right to choose your treating doctor. If you are in a workers' compensation health care network, you can choose your doctor from the network's treating doctor list. If you are not in a network, you can choose a doctor from the Approved Doctor List. This list is kept by the Division of Workers' Compensation. It is important to follow all the rules in the workers' compensation system.
4. You have the right to hire an attorney at any time to help you with your claim.
5. You have the right to receive information and assistance from the Office of Injured Employee Counsel at no cost.
6. You have the right to receive ombudsman assistance if you do not have an attorney and a dispute resolution proceeding about your claim has been scheduled. An ombudsman is an employee of the Office of Injured Employee Counsel. Ombudsmen are trained in the field of workers' compensation and provide free assistance to injured employees without attorneys. Ombudsmen cannot sign documents for you, make decisions for you or give legal advice.
Proceedings about your claim may include benefit review conferences (BRCs) or contested case hearings (CCHs). Proceedings are held at local field offices. At least one ombudsman is located in each local office.
7. You have the right for your claim information to be kept confidential. In most cases, the contents of your claim file cannot be obtained by others. Some parties have a right to know what is in your claim file, such as your employer or your employer's insurance carrier. Also, an employer that is considering hiring you may get limited information about your claim from the Division of Workers' Compensation.