Whether an employer carried workers' compensation coverage on the day of a workplace death changes almost everything that follows: the remedy, the deadline, the proof and the identity of the payer.
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Six boxes, about thirty seconds. You pick when to be called back, and that is when the phone rings.
Or call (512) 729-9561Section 408.001(a) of the Labor Code makes recovery of workers' compensation benefits the exclusive remedy of a covered employee or a legal beneficiary against the employer, or an agent or employee of the employer, for a work-related death. Subsection (d) adds that a determination of noncompensability under sections 406.032, 409.002 or 409.004 does not disturb that exclusivity. In practice a family may hold a valid claim against a third party while having no negligence claim against the employer at all, and sorting that out is the first analytical step rather than the last.
Subsection (b) permits recovery of exemplary damages by the surviving spouse or heirs of the body of a deceased employee where the death was caused by an intentional act or omission of the employer or by the employer's gross negligence. Subsection (c) adopts the section 41.001 definition, requiring an act or omission involving an extreme degree of risk viewed objectively at the time, of which the actor had actual, subjective awareness while proceeding with conscious indifference. Section 41.003 requires clear and convincing evidence and a unanimous jury finding on both liability and amount. This is not the standard for an ordinary safety lapse.
Death benefits under section 408.181 equal 75 percent of the employee's average weekly wage, subject to section 408.061 caps. Section 408.186 pays burial costs to the person who incurred them, capped at the lesser of actual reasonable expenses or $10,000, with body transportation covered where the death occurred away from the usual workplace. Section 408.182 splits benefits half to an eligible spouse and half among eligible children where both exist, all to the spouse where there is no eligible child or grandchild, and to dependent parents, stepparents, siblings or grandparents where there is no spouse, child or grandchild.
The Division of Workers' Compensation's death benefits guidance directs a beneficiary to file a claim, and DWC Form-042 is the beneficiary claim form. The one-year period for filing runs independently of the two-year civil limitations period in section 16.003(b). Families who spend the first year deciding whether to sue can therefore lose a benefit entitlement that was never contested. The two tracks are handled in different forums, on different paperwork, with different proof.
The state's 2022 non-subscriber estimates put private-sector subscription at 75 percent of employers covering 83 percent of employees, leaving roughly a quarter of employers outside the system. Non-subscription reached 31 percent among employers with one to four employees and fell to 7 percent among those with 50 to 99. The mining, utilities and construction grouping showed 16 percent non-subscription. Where an employer is a non-subscriber, section 406.033 strips contributory negligence, assumption of risk and fellow-servant defenses, retains intentional self-injury and intoxication as defenses, and voids pre-injury waivers.
Austin's employment base is unusually weighted toward government: the state capital, a public university, a county government and a hospital district sit inside the same county. The state's 2024 report attributes 44 fatalities to governmental employers, with local government accounting for 66 percent of those. A death involving a public employer adds immunity analysis under chapter 101, the damages ceilings in section 101.023, and, for a claim against the city, the 45-day written notice its charter requires.
Ask what carrier, if any, was on the risk that day, and get the coverage confirmation rather than a verbal answer. Preserve the incident report, the training file, the equipment maintenance log and any regulatory inspection that followed. Where a staffing agency was involved, the coverage question may have two answers. This page is general information about Texas workplace death law rather than legal advice, and no conclusion is offered about any employer or event; that discussion belongs with the attorney advertising on this site.
Workplace Death and Comp Exclusivity in Austin. Call (512) 729-9561 and a Austin lawyer reviews the claim and the deadline that applies. Nothing is signed on that call.
Call (512) 729-9561Local Rule 1.3 of the Travis County civil district courts has the District Clerk distribute filed cases equally on a rotating basis, while hearings and trials are assigned to available judges without regard to the court named in the case style.
Why it matters: The court number on a petition does not identify the judge who will hear a death case, so scheduling in Travis County works through the Court Administrator rather than a single court's coordinator.
Source: topics.txcourts.gov
Local Rule 13.3(a) automatically refers all cases set for trial on the jury docket or the non-jury long docket to pre-trial mediation, and Local Rule 8.1 makes cases on file over 18 months with no trial setting and no filings in 180 days eligible for dismissal for want of prosecution.
Why it matters: A Travis County death case is usually tested at mediation before trial, and a filed case can still be dismissed on the court's own motion if it sits idle.
Source: topics.txcourts.gov
The City of Austin reports 99 traffic fatalities and 301 serious injuries in 2025, with pedestrian deaths falling from 39 to 30, and estimates that roughly 65 to 75 percent of Austin traffic fatalities occur on state-owned roads.
Why it matters: Road ownership decides which entity is a potential defendant and which notice deadline applies, and the city's 45-day charter claim period is far shorter than the six-month statutory default.
Sources: austintexas.gov · austintexas.gov
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