TCJL Files Amicus in Workers’ Comp CIP Case

Today TCJL filed an amicus curiae brief in the Texas Supreme Court regarding an important case involving the proper interpretation of the Texas Workers’ Compensation Act. TIC Energy and Chemical, Inc. v. Kevin Bradford Martin (No. 15-0143) raises the issue of whether the TWCA’s general rule that an independent contractor is not an “employee” nullifies another section of the statute that authorizes a general contractor to extend workers’ compensation insurance coverage to a subcontractor’s employee through a consolidated insurance program. The Corpus Christi Court of Appeals held that an irreconcilable conflict exists between the two sections of the statute, a decision that flies in the face of contrary rulings by the Supreme Court and various courts of appeals. TCJL’s brief urges the Supreme Court to accept review on the basis that the two sections, which have been in the law for decades, work in harmony to encourage employers to provide workers’ compensation coverage to everyone working on a construction site. If the Court does not hear the case, it could unsettle longstanding consolidated insurance programs through which many League members provide workers’ compensation insurance to their construction contractors and their employees.