Texas is generally considered to be an at will employment state. What that means is your employer can terminate you without reason. One exception to this that occurs in a Worker’s Compensation context is that an employer cannot terminate you in retaliation for you filing a workers compensation claim, or acting as a witness, so long as it’s done in good faith.
Employers are often under a great deal of pressure regarding their bottom line. Supervisors especially may be incentivized through bonuses for having no lost time claims occur on a job, or may get penalized if it comes out that they broke safety protocols causing an injury to one of their employees. Unfortunately what this means is employers will often try to cover up injuries, and lash out against employees who fight to get the compensation they deserve. Texas law protects injured employees who have been terminated in retaliation for their workers compensation claim.
This protection also extends to hiring an attorney, so you cannot be terminated in response to you hiring an attorney to protect your rights.
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