Office of Injured Employee Counsel

Over the next few weeks, I will be writing about the duties of various state agencies. The Texas Department of Insurance not only oversees insurance companies in Texas, it also contains the State Fire Marshall, Workers' Compensation Division, the Office of the Injured Employee Counsel, and the Office of Public Insurance Counsel. This week, I will discuss the Office of Injured Employee Counsel. In 2006, the Office of Injured Employee Counsel (OIEC) was created within the Texas Department of Insurance. The mission of the Counsel is to assist, educate, and advocate on behalf of the injured employees of Texas. The Counsel's website is a wealth of information for workers. An employee can report an injury, find out their rights and responsibilities, and request assistance from the OIEC through an ombudsman. An Ombudsman is a specially trained employee of the Office of Injured Employee Counsel (OIEC) who can assist an employee with a dispute with the employer’s insurance carrier free of charge. Each OIEC ombudsman has a workers’ compensation insurance claims adjuster's license and has completed a comprehensive training program designed specifically for OIEC ombudsmen. Upon request, the ombudsman can: help an employee prepare for benefit review conferences; help prepare for benefit contested case hearings; attend benefit review conferences and benefit contested cases hearing with an employee and communicate on their behalf; and help prepare appeals and answer carrier appeals to the appeals panel of the Division of Workers’ Compensation. The website also has information on workers' compensation benefits, safety resources, and relevant federal and state legislation. The Office of Injured Employee Counsel can be reached by calling 1-866-EZE-OIEC, or through the website at www.oiec.texas.gov. For more information on these charges or any other matter of state government, please contact my office by writing to P.O. Box 2910, Austin, TX 78768-2910 or by emailing me at larry.phillips@house.state.tx.us. My district office phone number is (903) 891-7297.