Wrongful Death: Your Family’s Rights After a Workplace Death

Undefeated Wrongful Death Lawyers in Houston

Every day, thousands of workers head into refineries, construction sites, oilfields, and factories to provide for their families, and every year, thousands never come home—often because of entirely preventable accidents resulting from the negligent or careless actions by their employer or another company.

Every one of those workplace deaths leaves behind a family stripped of their loved one’s income, guidance, and presence in their lives. Workers’ compensation, when available, can’t come close to covering such a devastating loss, and it falls far short of true accountability. Fortunately, workers’ comp isn’t always the only path available after a fatal workplace accident. Depending on the laws of your state and the circumstances of your loved one’s death, you may be entitled to file a workplace wrongful death lawsuit to recover the full scope of your family’s losses.

Having won billions, including some of the largest verdicts and settlements in Texas, our Undefeated Houston Work Injury Attorneys have helped thousands of people rebuild their lives after catastrophic workplace disasters, including oilfield accidents, plant and refinery explosions, construction accidents and offshore and maritime accidents. While no amount of money can make up for your loss, our attorneys have the knowledge, experience, and resources needed to hold every responsible party accountable and ensure you and your family recover the maximum compensation available under the law.

Common Causes of Workplace Death

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, at least 5,070 U.S. workers were killed on the job in 2025 alone, including 557 in Texas. Nationwide, that translates to one workplace fatality every 104 minutes. While there are many causes of workplace death, most of those fatalities involved a common—and often completely preventable—hazard, such as:

Transportation Incidents: Motor vehicle crashes and other transportation-related accidents were the leading cause of workplace deaths nationally in 2025, killing 1,937 workers. That included 1,146 roadway crashes involving a vehicle, 369 pedestrians struck by a vehicle, and 210 by accidents involving forklifts or other non-roadway vehicles. The remaining on-the-job deaths involved either aircraft, watercraft, or railways.
Contact Incidents: Contact incidents killed 756 workers in 2025. Of those, 357 workers were struck by a falling, propelled, or suspended object, 213 were struck, caught, or compressed by running powered equipment, and 80 died in a collapse or engulfment incident, a category that includes trench and excavation cave-ins.
Falls, Slips, and Trips: Falls, slips, and trips killed 844 workers in 2025. Of those, 666 were falls to a lower level, including falls from scaffolding, roofs, and ladders, while 150 were slips, trips, or falls on the same level.
Violent Acts: 733 workers died due to violent acts in 2025, including 470 on-the-job homicides and 263 suicides.
Exposure to Harmful Substances or Environments: Exposure to harmful substances or environments killed 687 workers in 2025, including 469 deaths from exposure to harmful substances. Another 130 workers died due to electrocution, 53 from extreme temperatures, and 35 from oxygen deficiency, which includes asphyxiation in a confined space.
Explosions and Fires: Explosions and fires killed 93 workers in 2025. In most cases, these incidents resulted from equipment malfunctions, pressure buildup, or failure to adhere to safety standards and protocols.

In our experience, these hazards can almost always be avoided. Unfortunately, far too many companies are willing to look the other way, ignore basic safety regulations, and place workers at risk in their pursuit of profit.

Why Workers’ Comp Doesn’t Close the Door on a Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Many families wrongly assume that workers’ compensation is the only avenue available to them after a workplace death. But while it’s true that workers’ comp benefits are the exclusive remedy against an employer in most states, there are circumstances where survivors can pursue wrongful death lawsuits after a fatal workplace accident, including:

When a Third Party Is at Fault: Workers’ comp protections apply only to employers. Whether they’re eligible for benefits or not, surviving family members are free to seek compensation from any third party whose negligence caused or contributed to the accident, such as a property owner, an equipment manufacturer, or a general contractor.
The Intentional-Act or Gross-Negligence Exception: Most states—including Texas— carve out an exception when a death results from an employer’s seriously egregious conduct. However, the legal standard for proving gross negligence or an intentional act is typically high and varies by state.
Non-Subscribing Employers: Texas is the only state in the nation that allows private employers to skip workers’ comp coverage entirely. However, when they do, non-subscribing employers lose that protection, as well as the right to assert standard legal defenses that would otherwise protect them in a wrongful death lawsuit, including the ability to argue the worker was partly at fault.
Independent Contractors: Because they’re not employees, independent contractors aren’t covered by workers’ comp. If they die on the job, a wrongful death lawsuit is their family’s only path to compensation.

Even if your family is collecting workers’ compensation benefits, it’s in your best interest to explore all legal avenues potentially available to you. For one thing, workers’ comp rarely comes close to covering all you’ve lost. In Texas, for example, you’re only entitled to 75% of average weekly wages, capped at a statutory maximum currently set at $895 a week. Those benefits stop when a spouse remarries and when minor children reach the age of 18 (or 25 if a full-time student).

Filing a Wrongful Death Lawsuit After a Workplace Accident

Unlike a workers’ comp claim, a wrongful death lawsuit is a civil case that seeks compensation for ALL of a family’s losses beyond wage replacement and immediate medical bills. It also provides a way to hold negligent parties accountable by legally proving they were at fault and hopefully deter them from taking similar actions in the future, something workers’ comp was never intended to do

When a wrongful death lawsuit is successful, plaintiffs are entitled to recover the full scope of the economic and non-economic losses, including:

Lost Income and Earning Capacity: The deceased’s actual wages, including the value of any overtime, shift differentials, and union or trade benefits they were likely to earn over the course of their career.
Loss of Household Services: The value of the childcare, home repairs, and other unpaid work the deceased provided, work that carries a real, calculable cost to replace even though it never showed up on a pay stub.
Loss of Inheritance: The value of the assets or estate the deceased would reasonably have accumulated and passed on to survivors had they lived a full life.
Funeral and Burial Expenses: The direct cost of laying the deceased to rest, and, in some cases, medical costs incurred immediately after the accident that comp declined to cover in full.
Loss of Companionship: Compensation for the relationship itself, the day-to-day presence, support, and partnership the deceased provided.
Loss of Spousal Consortium: Compensation specific to a surviving spouse for the loss of the emotional and intangible parts of a marriage, including affection, comfort, and partnership.
Loss of Parental Guidance and Nurture: Compensation for surviving children for the loss of a parent’s care, teaching, and moral guidance.
Loss of Care and Protection: Compensation for the practical support the deceased provided, from parenting and household management to simply looking out for the family’s wellbeing.
Mental Anguish: compensation for the grief, emotional trauma, and psychological toll the death causes surviving family members.

If a family is able to prove that their loved one’s workplace death resulted from egregious conduct, such as gross negligence or an intentional act, they may be awarded additional punitive (exemplary) damages to punish the defendant and deter similar conduct in the future.

Survival Actions After a Workplace Death

Depending on the circumstances of a fatal workplace accident, the estate or personal representative may also be able to file a survival action to recover any damages the decedent incurred between the time of the accident and their eventual death, including:

Conscious Pain and Suffering: Compensation for the physical pain and mental anguish the worker experienced between the accident and their death.
Medical Expenses: The cost of emergency treatment, surgery, or hospitalization the worker received before passing away.
Lost Wages: The income the worker would have earned between the date of the accident and the date of death.
Funeral and Burial Expenses: If not recovered in a wrongful death lawsuit.

If the survival action is successful, the proceeds will be paid to the decedent’s estate and distributed according to their will. If there is no will, the estate divides any compensation recovered among the decedent’s heirs under the state’s intestacy laws.

What to Do After a Fatal Workplace Accident: A Checklist for Families

Most families are completely overwhelmed in the days, weeks, and months following a wrongful workplace death. The company and its insurer know that, and they will take advantage of your grief, confusion, and fear to pressure you into accepting what little workers’ comp you’re entitled to or accepting a low-ball settlement that doesn’t come close to covering all of your family’s losses.

No matter how much concern they show or how strongly they promise to make things right, they don’t care whether you have the financial resources to replace your loved one’s lost future income, meet your monthly expenses, pay for your children’s education, or save for retirement. They only care about their own bottom line. Unless you act just as decisively to counter these tactics, you’re likely to end up with far less than you and your family are actually owed.

Employers Must Report Workplace Deaths to OSHA Immediately

Employers are legally required to report a workplace fatality to OSHA, typically within eight hours, which triggers a formal investigation into what happened. A delayed or missing report can be a red flag on its own, and it can also affect how much evidence remains available by the time an investigation begins.

Gather What Evidence You Have

Witness names, medical records, any communication with the employer, and anything a coworker who was present saw or recorded are all worth holding onto. In our experience, this type of evidence is often central to a case, whether the family ultimately pursues workers’ comp, a wrongful death lawsuit, or both.

Be Cautious with the Employer’s Insurer or Workers’ Comp Carrier

An insurance company representative may reach out right away, sometimes with sympathy and a promise to “take care of everything.” But no matter what they say or how much they pressure you, don’t give a recorded statement, sign a release, or agree to any settlement before speaking with a lawyer. If you try to deal with the company’s adjuster on your own, you risk making a mistake that could limit your family’s recovery to what little workers’ compensation might be available.

Intangible losses, like mental anguish and loss of companionship, are among the most highly contested damages in most wrongful death lawsuits. And insurance companies will go to any lengths to raise doubt about the extent of your family’s suffering, including monitoring all of your social media accounts. A photo of a smiling family dinner, a post about a birthday party, or vacation videos can be taken out of context to cast doubt on your claims.

Keep a Daily Journal

Taking some time each day to record the specific ways your loved one’s workplace death has affected you and your family—missed milestones, changes in a child’s behavior, financial strain—as they happen creates a record that’s far more persuasive than testimony recalled long after the fact.

Workplace Wrongful Death: Frequently Asked Questions

Who can file a wrongful death lawsuit after a workplace accident?

Most states have imposed strict laws limiting wrongful death filings to close family members. Some, like Texas, take a narrow approach, allowing only a spouse or common-law partner, children, and parents of the deceased to file. Others, like California, extend the right to a spouse, domestic partner, children, stepchildren, and grandchildren. A handful do allow siblings to file in limited circumstances.

What is my workplace death case worth?

The value of your case depends on your loved one’s age, income, and earning potential over what would have been their remaining working years, as well as the number of parties who share liability, how much insurance coverage each defendant carries and the strength of the available evidence. Once we’re hired, our attorneys will work with economists, vocational experts, and mental health professionals to develop a damage model that fully accounts for the full scope of your losses, both now and in the future.

What’s the statute of limitations for a workplace wrongful death claim?

Every state sets a deadline, known as a statute of limitations, for filing a wrongful death lawsuit, and missing it typically bars a family from ever recovering damages no matter how strong the case might have been. In Texas, families generally have two years from the date of death to file. That clock usually starts on the date of death itself, not the date of the original accident, which matters in cases where a worker survived for some time before passing away.

What if my loved one was partly at fault for the accident?

It depends on the state’s approach to comparative fault. In Texas, a family can still recover damages as long as the deceased is found 50 percent or less at fault, though any compensation is reduced by that percentage. For example, someone found 30 percent at fault would see their award reduced by 30 percent. However, if the deceased is found 51 percent or more at fault, Texas law bars the family from recovering anything at all. A handful of other states apply a far stricter rule, known as contributory negligence, where even 1 percent of fault on the deceased’s part can eliminate the claim entirely.

Undefeated Wrongful Death Lawyers: Call 1-888-603-3636 or Click Here for a Free Consultation

Our Undefeated Wrongful Death Lawyers have successfully represented thousands of clients in Texas and throughout the United States in connection with plant and refinery explosions, oilfield accidents, toxic exposures and more, and we consistently win record-breaking verdicts and settlements on their behalf.

If your loved one died on the job, don’t assume workers’ comp is your only option. Call 1-888-603-3636, use the “chat” button, or click here to send us a confidential email through our “Contact Us” form.

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