Subsequent Injury Fund

Spreadsheet with a calculator and pencil

The Subsequent Injury Fund (SIF) was created after World War II to encourage employers to hire injured veterans. It did this by covering lifetime income benefits (LIBs) for workers who already had an injury before being hired but then had an on the job injury qualifying them to receive LIBs.

Today, the fund still helps employers hire people with preexisting conditions by reducing how much the employer has to pay if that worker gets a new, work-related injury that qualifies them for LIBs. The SIF also now reimburses certain workers’ compensation benefits that were overpaid and cannot be recovered.

What does the Subsequent Injury Fund (SIF) do?

Pay lifetime income benefits (LIBs)

When does the SIF pay LIBs?

If a worker with a previous injury suffers a new work-related injury, and the combined effects of both injuries entitles them to lifetime income benefits, the insurance carrier only has to pay benefits it would owe for the new injury as if the old injury didn’t exist.

The Subsequent Injury Fund pays the rest of the lifetime income benefits the employee is entitled to.

How to request payment of LIBs by the SIF

An insurance carrier may submit a request to the SIF that includes:

how the employee is entitled to LIBs,
information about the previous injury, and
wage information to calculate the benefit amount.

Send the request to SIF@tdi.texas.gov.

Reimburse insurance carriers

The SIF reimburses insurance carriers or self-insurers for qualifying benefits overpaid to an injured employee. Reimbursable items may include:

Pharmaceutical services.
Overpayment of benefits.
Death benefits paid.
Benefits paid to employees claiming multiple employment.

How to request reimbursement

Submit the appropriate form based on the type of reimbursement:

DWC Form-095, SIF Reimbursement Request Form - Overturned Order or Designated Doctor Opinion
DWC Form-096, SIF Reimbursement Request Form – Refund of Death Benefits
DWC Form-097, SIF Reimbursement Request Form – Multiple Employment
DWC Form-098, SIF Reimbursement Request Form – Pharmaceutical

Learn more

View training videos on filling out reimbursement forms for the two most submitted requests:

🎥 Filling out DWC Form-095 (YouTube)
🎥 Filling out DWC Form-097 (YouTube)

Accept the insurance carrier’s death benefit payments

The SIF is funded by death benefit payments insurance carriers pay on work-related fatalities in cases where no eligible beneficiary exists.

What’s needed

Do not send a payment on your own. Send the following documents first, and the SIF will send you an invoice with instructions on how to pay.

A short explanation of what happened in the claim.
Signed and completed DWC Form-001, Employer’s First Report of Injury or Illness.
Signed and completed DWC Form-003, Employer’s Wage Statement. Make sure the non-pecuniary section of the form is complete and all yes/no boxes are checked.
A record showing all death benefits paid on the claim.

How to submit documentation

Submit documents by secure file transfer protocol (SFTP). To set up an SFTP account, contact eFiling-Help@tdi.texas.gov.

Once your account is established, use the SFTP Standards document for instructions on submitting documents to the SFTP box.

For more information, contact: