Proposed Change to Lifetime Income Benefits in Texas

There is a long overdue change pending in the Texas legislature for lifetime income benefits.

In most Worker’s Compensation claims, income benefits are capped at a maximum of 401 weeks. Virtually all Worker’s Compensation cases last for a much shorter time than even that. But for most severe cases, the law requires that benefits can be extended no further than 401 weeks, despite a demonstrated injury, which prevents the employee from returning to work.

 

The Texas Association of firefighters put out a press release in support of proposed legislation, filed by Dustin Burrows and Charles Perry to update the law and address some unfortunate situations.

 

The proposed legislation does a couple of things. The first thing that it does is change an antiquated standard for evaluating lifetime income benefit claims. After this point, lifetime, income benefits claims based upon a head injury, had to fit into the categories of insanity or imbecility to qualify. 

 

These are antiquated terms that no doctor uses. This created a couple of problems. One major problem is the doctors would often refuse to comment on the eligibility of a patient for benefits based upon that standard, because these are antiquated, outdated, and even offensive terms that the doctor did not want to be associated with. One can understand the reluctance of a doctor to be caught in writing, referring to his patient as insane or an imbecile. So doctors would just refuse to comment. 

 

Another problem is that because these terms are outdated, there is no definition a doctor could refer to based upon the current state of the medical literature. This has led to frequent litigation over precisely what these terms mean.

 

So the change in the statute is proposed as follows. Instead of lifetime, income benefits from a head injury, based upon a physically traumatic injury to the brain, resulting in incurable, insanity or imbecility, now the statute will allow for lifetime income benefits, based upon a permanent major neurocognitive disorder, or a psychotic disorder. this essentially tracks the concepts of the prior lol but updating the language in a way that tracks with current medical understanding. 

 

The other thing that the proposed statutory change does is a first responder carveout.

 

Since the changes in the 1989 act, lifetime benefits, could not be awarded for a general inability to work as a result of a serious injury. It had to fit into a specific category of loss of use of extremities, blindness, serious burns, covering a large portion of the body, or a head injury. This proposed statutory change allows for lifetime income benefits to be paid when there is a serious, bodily injury, sustained by the employee in the course and scope of the employment or volunteer service. As a first responder that permanently prevents the employee performing any gainful work. 

 

There is also a change in that the portion of the statute, allowing for lifetime income benefits when there are third-degree burns that cover at least 40% of the body and require grafting, or third-degree burns, covering the majority of both hands, both feet, one hand in 1 foot, or one hand or foot and face.  Previously it had to be one hand or the face. This change allows it to be 1 foot in the face if it is not both feet, both hands, or a combination thereof.