TWCC Initiates Online Reporting of Worker Injuries

For the first time in Texas, workers who are injured on the job can report the injury to the Texas Workers’ Compensation Commission via the Internet. The online reporting, available in both Spanish and English, was launched as part of the Commission’s TXCOMP system in mid-September.

Injured workers are required to file the Employee’s Notice of Injury or Occupational Disease and Claim for Compensation (TWCC-41) form with the Commission within one year of the injury date. Workers can now report the injury to the Commission from a home computer, or from self-service computer stations located at local Commission offices around the state.

Changes to Commission Rules 122.2 and 122.100 to allow for electronic filing of the TWCC-41 form were approved at the Aug. 19 public meeting of the Commission.

“We are tremendously pleased to achieve this milestone in reducing paperwork in our workers’ compensation system,” said Robert L. “Bob” Shipe, Acting Executive Director of the Commission. “This is one more filing requirement that has been redesigned and automated to improve service to system participants.”

The online reporting of worker injuries is the result of a Business Process Improvement Project that has been underway at the Commission since 1999. The project is directed by Stacey Jefferson, director of Business & Information Technology Services. Other improvements to the TXCOMP system expected to be launched in Fall 2004 will allow designated parties to view a workers’ compensation claim online, Jefferson said.

Injured workers still have the option of submitting a paper copy of the TWCC-41 form to the Commission. These forms are available for downloading from the Commission Website at: www.twcc.state.tx.us.