GQ Corner
Q. If an employer is not self-insured, is the first notice of an alleged injury/exposure when the employer was made aware or when the carrier and/or TPA is made aware?
A. For purposes of the 15-day and 60-day requirements, first notice is the date the carrier or its TPA on the account receives notice. The carrier’s first notice, under Rule 124.1, consists of the insurance carrier’s earliest receipt of: (1) the Employer’s First Report of Injury as described in §120.2; (2) a notification provided by DWC under 124.1(e); or (3) if no Employer’s First Report of Injury has been filed, any other communication regardless of source, which fairly informs the carrier of the name of the injured employee, the identity of the employer, the approximate date of the injury and information which asserts the injury is work related.
Q. I know that when we receive a claim on 8-4-2021 during business hours that the 15 days starts counting the next business day making the 15th day 8-19-21. What if we receive a first report of injury (FROI) on 8-4-21 after 7 that evening? Is the 15th day 8-19-21 or 8-20-21? Technically, the date of receipt for business purposes would be 8-5-21 so the next business day to start counting our time would be 8-6-21 so that would make the 15th day 8-20-21.
A. Rule 102.3(c) and (d) provide that normal business hours in the Texas workers’ compensation system are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST (with the exception of the Division’s El Paso Field Office), and that any written or telephonic communications received other than during normal business hours on working days are considered received at the beginning of normal business hours on the next working day. Therefore, if you receive a FROI on 8-4-21 after 7 p.m., treat the document as being received on 8-5-21. Consequently, the 15 days starts counting the next business day (8-6-21) making the 15th day 8-20-21 under Rule 124.3(a)(1).
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