The expensive workers' comp claims usually aren't the worst injuries — they're the worst-handled ones. The report that reached the carrier two weeks late. The light-duty offer nobody put in writing. The injured employee who heard nothing from work for a month and answered a billboard. And in Texas, Chapter 451 adds the sharpest edge: discipline that follows a comp claim reads as retaliation unless the record says otherwise.
This packet manages the claim from report to return: a facts-not-fault injury report, an immediate response checklist (carrier deadlines, OSHA recordability, witness statements), restriction tracking in the provider's exact language, a light-duty analysis and written offer record, a communication log, and a return-to-work review with the ADA handoff for restrictions that turn permanent.
Who should use this response packet
- Texas employers managing a work injury right now
- Supervisors who receive injury reports first
- Operations managers designing light-duty assignments
- HR teams that inherit claims after they've gone quiet
What it helps prevent
- Workers' comp retaliation claims (Texas Labor Code Chapter 451)
- Injuries that never got reported to the carrier on time
- Light-duty offers made verbally, vaguely, or not at all
- Lost-time claims that grow because no one kept contact
- Restrictions ignored on the floor because supervisors never saw them
What’s inside
- Part 1 — Injury Report
- Part 2 — Immediate Response
- Part 3 — Treatment and Restriction Tracking
- Part 4 — Light-Duty Analysis
- Part 5 — Light-Duty Offer Record
- Part 6 — Communication Log
- Part 7 — Return-to-Work Review
Before you process payroll, terminate, classify, deduct, or respond to a claim, get the decision reviewed.
Faulkner HR Solutions helps Texas employers, nonprofits, municipalities, and growing businesses fix the people systems behind recurring workplace problems. If this resource raised a risk flag, do not guess your way through the next step.