Informal Resolution
Many workers' comp disputes are resolved directly with the adjuster, without a conference or hearing. This page explains how to work a dispute informally, in writing, without losing time on the formal deadlines.
What informal resolution is
Informal resolution is any direct effort between you and the insurance carrier to fix a dispute without involving a DWC proceeding. There is no form for it and no officer running it. It is you, the adjuster, and the evidence.
It works more often than workers expect, for a simple reason: a surprising share of disputes are documentation gaps rather than true disagreements. If your comp checks are too low because the carrier computed your average weekly wage from incomplete records, the fix may be your check stubs, not a hearing. If the carrier's file lists the wrong first day of lost time, the fix may be a corrected work status report. Supplying the missing document, with a short explanation, resolves problems that would otherwise take months in the formal process. Average Weekly Wage in Texas Workers' Compensation Claims explains the wage example in detail, and When Your Comp Checks Stop Coming covers the special case of stopped payments.
How to do it well
Four habits make informal resolution work.
1. Put everything in writing. Email or letter, not phone calls. A phone promise from an adjuster is not evidence of anything. If a call happens anyway, follow it the same day with a short written summary: what was said, what was agreed, what happens next. 2. Make one specific request at a time. State what is wrong, what document proves it, and what you are asking the carrier to do. Attach the proof. 3. Ask for a response by a date. DWC rules require carriers to respond to written claim communications within a set number of working days. Name a reasonable date in your letter and keep a copy. 4. Escalate deliberately. If the adjuster does not respond or cannot act, ask in writing for the adjuster's supervisor. If the carrier ignores its obligations entirely, a complaint to DWC is available; How to File a Complaint in Texas Workers' Comp explains what complaints can and cannot accomplish. Knowing what to ask for in the first place is half of this work, and What to Ask the Adjuster About Your Claim supplies the questions.
Can I resolve a dispute without a hearing?
Yes. Disputes settle at every stage of the Texas system, and many never reach a hearing room. Some resolve informally when the right evidence reaches the adjuster. Others resolve at the benefit review conference, where a DWC officer helps both sides look for agreement. When you and the carrier reach agreement on a disputed issue, it can be put in writing on form DWC024, which makes it binding, and no one can force you to sign one.
What you should not do is treat informal resolution as a substitute for the formal process. Treat it as the first stage of that process, running alongside it. If informal efforts stall, Benefit Review Conferences explains the next step, which you should already have requested.
The trap: negotiating while the clock runs
Informal resolution does not pause a single deadline. The 90-day window to dispute an impairment rating runs while you and the adjuster trade emails. The formal dispute process only begins when form DWC045 is filed, and nothing about friendly negotiation delays the consequences of filing late. Carriers know this. An adjuster who keeps a hopeful conversation going for three months has, whatever the intention, consumed three months of your calendar.
The rule our office follows is simple: negotiate and file at the same time. Filing the DWC045 does not end the conversation; disputes resolve informally after filing all the time, and a resolved dispute can simply be closed. Filing protects the conversation instead of betting your claim on it. While negotiating, sign nothing beyond a specific agreement you understand; broad authorization forms the carrier mails you are a separate matter and deserve caution. Dispute Resolution shows where every deadline sits in the larger process.
Attorney notes regarding disputes & hearings
Once a workers’ compensation claim becomes a formal dispute, knowing what you want is not enough. You also need to know what must be proven, what evidence will help prove it, and when that evidence needs to be ready. Decisions made at one stage of a dispute can affect what happens at the next.
Before a hearing, watch out for:
- Missing evidence: Medical records alone may not prove the issue you are fighting.
- Poorly defined issues: What is actually being disputed may be narrower, or more complicated, than it first appears.
- Missed deadlines: Some rights can be lost simply by waiting too long to act.
- Waiting until the hearing: A strong case often needs to be built well before anyone enters the hearing room.
- Assuming an appeal fixes everything: Appeals have limits. They are not simply a chance to start the case over.
At Abbott, Clay & Bedoy, we identify the issues, develop the evidence, prepare witnesses, present our clients’ cases at hearings, and handle appeals when necessary.
The best time to prepare for a workers’ compensation hearing is not the night before it happens. If your claim is headed toward a BRC, CCH, or appeal, let us take a look at the dispute while there is still time to prepare for it.
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