Being punished for pursuing a workers' compensation claim is its own violation — separate from the injury, separate from the benefits, and with its own damages. A great many people never learn it is a case at all.
You were hurt at work. You reported it, filed for benefits, or took the steps needed to pursue the claim. Then the treatment changed — a write-up out of nowhere, hours cut, a transfer, a termination.
This is a separate violation, distinct from anything to do with the injury itself, and a great many people never learn that. It is also one of the easier retaliation claims to explain, because the protected act is usually a dated filing rather than a conversation somebody will later dispute.
That is the idea underneath this whole area of law, and in New Mexico the Supreme Court has said it almost in those words. Firing a worker for pursuing workers' compensation benefits can be an unlawful retaliatory discharge. The Court explained that it could not accept a reading of the Workers' Compensation Act "that would force employees to choose between their jobs and seeking remedies under the Act." Michaels v. Anglo American Auto Auctions, Inc., 117 N.M. 91, 869 P.2d 279 (1994).
What a New Mexico jury is asked is whether the protected conduct was a "motivating factor" in the discharge — and the standard instruction tells the jury that it "need not be the only reason, nor the last nor latest reason." Damages are not limited to lost wages. The Supreme Court has held that a wrongfully discharged employee is "entitled to be compensated fully," which includes emotional distress, and that the burden of proof is the ordinary one, a preponderance of the evidence. Chavez v. Manville Products Corp., 108 N.M. 643 (1989).
If you have read somewhere that these claims require clear and convincing evidence and that damages stop at out-of-pocket loss, that was the rule until 1989. It is still repeated. It is not the law.
Where New Mexico's protection comes from its courts, Texas put it in the code, and put it broadly:
"A person may not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against an employee because the employee has:
(1) filed a workers' compensation claim in good faith;
(2) hired a lawyer to represent the employee in a claim;
(3) instituted or caused to be instituted in good faith a proceeding under Subtitle A; or
(4) testified or is about to testify in a proceeding under Subtitle A."
Texas Labor Code § 451.001The point in both states is the same. Pursuing the benefits you are owed after a workplace injury is protected, and being punished for it is not lawful.
The sequences that come up again and again in this office's files:
Employers rarely say the claim was the reason. What usually gives the case its shape is the contrast between how the worker was treated before the injury and how they were treated after — and a stated reason that does not survive a look at the record.
If it is safe and lawful for you to do so, keep copies of the claim paperwork, the doctor's restrictions, your evaluations, and the termination notice. Do not take anything you are not authorized to access.
Comp claims generate a dated paper trail on both sides. That is a real advantage in these cases.
That is the most common version of this case. The stated reason and the protected conduct grow out of the same set of facts, which is exactly why the timing, your record before the injury, and how the employer treated other injured workers all matter so much.
Still worth a conversation. Protection is not always limited to the moment a form is filed; the steps a worker takes to pursue a claim can count too. Tell us exactly what you did and when, and we will tell you where you stand.
Tell us what happened. Whether something short of a firing supports a claim depends on which state you worked in and on exactly what was done, so it is worth a conversation rather than an assumption either way.
No. Workers' compensation pays for the injury. A retaliation claim is about what your employer did to you for pursuing those benefits. It is a separate case with separate damages.
Not necessarily — they are different claims. Bring the settlement paperwork so it can be read before anyone assumes anything either way.
Nothing upfront. This office works on a contingency fee and advances the costs of the case. Attorney's fees are owed only if there is a recovery; clients may remain responsible for case costs and expenses.
Some are much shorter than people expect. The sooner you call, the more options are still open. Tell us what happened — free, confidential, and no obligation.