Effective September 1, 2005, the Texas WC Commission was disbanded and its functions
transferred to the newly created Division of Workers' Compensation in the Texas Department
of Insurance (TDI). Despite this reorganization, the process for obtaining WC information
is essentially unchanged. Requests will continue to be made to their Records Center,
where employees handle inquiries such as those made by SSA.
NOTE: The information provided by TDI is not proof of WC payments. It is only evidence that
payments were made, and additional development should be undertaken to the claimant
and/or the insurance carrier to provide the actual proof of the WC payments and periods
of payment. The following statement appears on TDI responses to SSA Requests: "The
information provided is not a record of money paid to the individual, rather a data
report the insurance carrier to DWC which provided the number of weeks the benefit
was paid, the number of weeks paid, the weekly amount and the benefit type. The "Estimated
Paid to Date" is a calculation based on this information. The "Estimated Paid to Date"
does not include reductions in payment to injured employees for attorney fees and
other withholdings. For complete benefits payment information, contact the insurance
carrier indicated on the worksheet."
If the required information from the claimant or the WC carrier is unknown, .the Division
of Workers' Compensation can be contacted. The initial request should be made by fax
to (512) 804-4991. Do not attempt to initially secure the information by phone.
If unable to accomplish a fax transmission, the mailing address is:
Texas Department of Insurance (TDI)
Division of Workers’ Compensation
7551 Metro Center Drive, Suite 100
MS 92
Austin TX 78744
The consent of the worker is not required before the Division of Workers' Compensation
will release information to SSA, but you should still include a copy of any consent
statement that has been obtained. In order for the Division of Workers' Compensation
to verify that the request is from SSA, they ask that it be made using a document
with an SSA letterhead. Any fax cover sheet with the SSA logo may be used, and individual
PCs and FOs should create their own local forms for this purpose. An SSA-1709 should
be included as an attachment if deemed appropriate. At a minimum, include the NH’s
name, SSN, and the date of the workers’ compensation injury. The DWC uses the injury
date to search for the record, applying a tolerance of 60-90 days from the injury
date shown. If the injury date is unknown, but indications are that the WC payments
started at a time close to the onset date established by SSA, show: “Not in SSA records
but the Social Security onset date is MM/DD/YYYY.” If there is an indication that
the WC payments did not begin until sometime after DIB was awarded, as would be the
case if a DIB beneficiary later returned to work and was injured on the later job,
show an injury date slightly prior whatever WC start date is alleged or otherwise
indicated on whatever documentation is in file. To facilitate a response, show your
name, title, phone, and fax number on the correspondence.
The Division of WC requests that we wait 60 days before doing a follow-up on the status
of a request. If no reply has been received by then, the CA/CTE should do a follow-up
phone call to 800–252–7031. Besides providing assistance in determining the status
of the prior request, they can also, if needed, help interpret the documents you received.