GQ Corner

Q: I have a claimant with two child support orders and attorney fees. Is it a total of 50% of his check that can be withheld?

A: Yes, it is a total of the two orders that amount to 50% of the benefits. Pay an equal amount to each order up to the 50% limit.
 
Texas Family Code:
§ 158.207. EMPLOYER RECEIVING MORE THAN ONE ORDER OR WRIT
(a) An employer receiving two or more orders or writs for one obligor shall comply with each order or writ to the extent possible.
(b) If the total amount due under the orders or writs exceeds the maximum amount allowed to be withheld under Section 158.009, the employer shall pay an equal amount towards the current support in each order or writ until the employer has complied fully with each current support obligation and, thereafter, equal amounts on the arrearages until the employer has complied with each order or writ, or until the maximum total amount of allowed withholding is reached, whichever occurs first.
 
(The carrier is not the employer, but the same rules apply per other provisions in the Family Code.)

Q: This claimant tested positive for THC. I am including an account of how the injury occurred. The claimant was picking up 2×4’s to begin his next task when his co-worker ran over his foot with a fork lift. The claimant states that it took approximately 3-5 seconds for his co-worker to move the fork lift. The claimant treated at Central Texas Urgent Care and was diagnosed with a medial malleolus fracture and was placed in a soft cast.  Do we have a basis for denial due to the positive drug screening? Even though he was a “victim” of the fork lift driver?

A: In Texas it does not matter that he was a victim of a forklift driver. So, yes, because of the positive drug screen, you can file a PLN-1 raising defense of intoxication.
 
In other states, the intoxication is looked upon as whether it contributed to the accident or not, (i.e. if a steel beam falls on the head of an intoxicated worker, was he at fault for being in the wrong place at the wrong time?). Texas does not analyze such questions to the claimant’s benefit, and in fact, in Texas, you can use such accident facts as further proof that he wasn’t able to get out of the way due to his faulty, impaired reaction time.