Work injuries can occur in any number of ways from the simple to the severe. Slips and falls can happen without a moment’s notice, and lifting injuries are a common occurrence on most any job site. More serious injuries can occur because of such devastating events like electrocution, impalement, fire, explosions, crush injuries, or any other type of accident that involves great personal injury. However, many employers will attempt to skirt their liability in your work injury accident case by claiming that you’re simply a contractor. Knowing the difference between being a contractor and being an employee can prove to be ultimately beneficial to you in your quest for compensation for your injury. Dallas work injury lawyer Michael Grossman offers the following information on the differences between contractors and employees in the State of Texas. This information is general in nature but still specific to Texas, so it’s recommended that you contact professional legal help in your own state so that you can be apprised of the specific differences between contractors and employees dependent on where you live. However, understanding this difference can sometimes mean the difference between receiving full compensation and receiving little to no compensation for your work injury accident lawsuit.

 

If an employer can rightfully claim that an injured worker is a contractor, they will not be held responsible for that worker’s injury as that worker, as a contractor, is held to be responsible for their own safety while on the job. However, the State of Texas provides a broad definition of what an employee is. As such, knowledgeable lawyers can often debate an injured worker’s employment status based on the following criteria, regardless of if the employer has always called the worker a contractor:

 

●     Did the worker sign a document from their employer that limited their work-related rights, like a handbook or a consent to drug testing?

●     Did the employer provide necessary tools and equipment to the worker to get their job done?

●     Did the employer pay the employee with a salary or per hour, instead of paying per each specific job finished?

●     Did the employer withhold taxes or social security from the worker’s paychecks?

 

If any of these questions can be answered in the affirmative, at least as far as Texas law goes, then the case can be made that an injured worker was in fact an employee, and not a contractor. This would then make the employer liable for any injuries sustained by the hurt worker. As previously stated, it’s important that you contact legal representation in your own state so that an experienced lawyer can help you discern your relationship as an employee or contractor to your employer. Following employment law London, the correct relationship between an employer and an employee can be very important to any work injury case so that you as an injured victim can stand to receive compensation for your injury.

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