Q: I was working for a hospitality staffing company when I was injured while carrying large trays at the Sheraton.

A: You need to contact a member of the Texas Trial Lawyers Assn who handles workers compensation. They give free consults.

Unfortunately, Sheraton may not be liable because of workers compensation. But get the free consultation as soon as possible. You don't want to do any significant back loading work if your injures are as listed as it may increase your injury..

A: I am sorry for your situation with WC. Unfortunately workers in Texas have no idea until they are touched by the process when they are injured. Many good lawyers have become frustrated and have quit handling WC cases. I hope I can offer you some assistance. First, if your job was part-time, but prior to your injury you had been a full time employee, either because you worked for different employers or your hours were cut due to no fault of your own, you may be able to increase your weekly income benefits as a result of proving "dual employment". Your AWW must include all wages as an employee from any source for the 13 weeks prior to your injury. I do not know if that helps you but I hope so. I assisted an injured worker (IW) obtain an adjustment of his TIBs rate and he was paid over $13,000 in a lump sum. Also if you travel more than 30 miles one way for medical care you may be entitled to mileage reimbursement rate that the State pays its employees, (last time I checked it was about 56 cents mile). Very few people know this but many years back, while I was still in law school, I wrote the winning Supreme Court brief arguing employers/carriers could not reimburse its employees at a rate that was less than the rate given to State employees because it was a violation of the equal protection clause of the US Constitution. As a result of my Constitutional argument in the winning brief thousand of people have a little extra jingle in their pockets; but alas, I was not even credited with the accomplishment of obtaining higher reimbursement rates for all injured workers because I was a law student at the time. As for the job exceeding your abilities to perform the work, you have the right to refuse work if you cannot perform the work within your restrictions but you will need a medical provider that will agree the work exceeded you ability to perform or was outside the restrictions the provider had given you. One final note for you, in Texas employers can"opt out" of WC but if they do so you may be able to seek the full range of monetary damages allowed in Texas. You can call DWC to discover whether your employer is actually a subscriber to WC. Good luck on your claim.