About the Office of Injured Employee Counsel
Mission
To assist, educate, and advocate on behalf of the injured employees of Texas.
Services
Advocacy:
- Identify issues that increase burdens or create problems for injured employees and address those issues in the legislative and rulemaking processes and through the simplification of procedures and forms.
- Monitor the performance of the workers’ compensation system, with a focus on return to work of injured employees
Dispute Assistance Through OIEC’s Ombudsman Program:
- To provide an ombudsman once a proceeding has been scheduled to assist the injured employee throughout the dispute process.
Customer Service:
- General Customer Service: We educate and provide general assistance to injured employees regarding the workers’ compensation system.
- Referrals to Other Agencies: We provide referrals to other local, state and federal agencies, including the Department of Assistive & Rehabilitative Services (DARS), as appropriate.
- Complaints Regarding Health Care Providers: For complaints received from injured employees regarding health care providers, we assist in referring those complaints to the appropriate entities and licensing boards.
The statutory authority for the Office of Injured Employee Counsel is found in the Texas Labor Code, Chapter 404.
Ethics Statement
Each OIEC employee has an obligation to maintain high ethical standards in the performance of their work responsibilities and in their personal life, realizing that lapses in such judgment will reflect negatively on OIEC.
OIEC employees must seek to enhance and implement ethical values based on established principles of sound reasoning and the highest standards of business conduct.
