Unfortunately, despite safety protocols, accidents still occur in the workplace. Employees who are injured on the job may wish to file a workers’ compensation claim for their injuries. This allows a Texas worker to receive a form of payment while he or she recovers. However, an employer may choose to illegally terminate an employee after he or she makes such a claim, which could result in a wrongful discharge lawsuit.
In most company protocols, as soon as an employee gets hurt at work, he or she is to report the accident immediately. A woman who worked for Wal-Mart claims that she lost her job after she filed a claim for workers’ compensation benefits. The plaintiff alleges that she reported her injury to her supervisor right away. She also applied for workers’ compensation benefits.
Six months after she filed for benefits, she was apparently fired from the company. She believes that the reason she lost her job was because she had filed a claim against the store. The plaintiff believes that her termination was a direct form of retaliation for doing what she was legally permitted to do.
The former Wal-Mart employee is accusing the company of retaliatory discharge and is asking for court fees and $100,000, which would encompass her benefits and lost income. Texas employees who believe that they have suffered a wrongful discharge due to no fault of their own may choose to file a claim against their employer. Based on the individual circumstances of the case, the court may award the employee financial relief as well as to be returned to his or her former position.
Source: The Madison-St. Clair Record, “Woman alleges she was fired from Granite City Wal-Mart for filing workers’ comp claim“, Sept. 30, 2014