You May Be Eligible For TX Workers Comp If You Were Injured While Traveling For Work

At the end of April, the Texas Court of Appeals heard an interesting workers’ compensation case that we can learn a lot from.

A man working for a landscaping company was driving to a required work-related conference in a city several hours from where he lived. The leadership conference would least several days and the man would be traveling to the event with a co-worker in a company vehicle. On his way to pick up his coworker on the first day of the event, the man was killed in a Texas traffic accident.

The man’s family was awarded Texas workers’ compensation benefits, but the company’s insurer protested the award. The insurer argued that the man was traveling the same route that he took to work at the time of the car accident and that he was simply going to an alternate work site when he crashed. The Texas Court of Appeals explained that the man was not simply coming or going from work, he was traveling specifically for work to a different city in a company truck. The fact that he wasn’t far from his home at the time of the truck crash and on the same route that he took to his office was not relevant.

While those who are injured during a routine commute to and from work are often not covered by workers’ compensation, those who are on business trips when injured or killed often are. If you have a question about your own Texas workers’ compensation claim, speak with a work injury attorney today about your case.