California Workers’ Compensation Benefits

California Workers’ Compensation Benefits

The basic benefits provided by California workers’ compensation laws are as follows:

1. All medical treatment necessary to cure or relieve the effects of your industrial injury, if necessary, for the rest of your life, subject to applicable treatment guidleines.
2. Temporary disability payments which continue until you are able to return to work or your injury has stabilized, but not longer then 24 months, in most cases.
3. Permanent disability payments. If your injury has resulted in a disability, you may be entitled to additional payments over & above temporary disability payments you received while unable to work.
4. Death benefits are available to dependents of workers who died in the course of their employment, and may be available to workers who later die from their work injuries within 240 weeks of the injury.

Our Attorneys Explain How California Workers’ Compensation Cases Work

The California workers’ compensation system is a “no-fault” system intended to provide injured workers with medical treatment and a small amount of money to live on until they are able to return to work. For that reason, we encourage injured workers in the Los Angeles area to return to work as soon as they are medically able to work again.

Disputes regarding workers’ compensation cases are decided at the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, which are located across Los Angeles, Orange County, Southern California, and the rest of the state.  (Click here for a list of all Southern California locations). The California Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board is a state administrative agency, where procedures are far less formal and hearings done far more quickly than in California’s Superior Court system.

There is no right to a jury trial in workers’ compensation cases under California law. But the judge’s decision in a California Workers’ comp case is subject to an appeals process, potentially to the Supreme Court of the State of California.

Many injured workers in Los Angeles, Orange County and southern California are disappointed to learn that when they suffer an injury or illness in the course of their employment, they have entered into a system where employers do not always do the right thing. And, even if your employer wants to be fair, your actual California workers’ compensation claim may be administered through an insurance company which is looking only at saving money.

Employers in Los Angeles and Orange County are typically represented by a team of highly trained professionals whose job it is to limit the amount of money that the employer has to pay to provide an employee with workers’ compensation benefits. Your best interest is not usually their prime concern.

The bottom line is that the Los Angeles and Orange County, California workers’ compensation system is not user particularly “user friendly”.  And it is also not structured so that client’s without lawyers get the maximum workers’ compensation benefits. That is why it is so important to discuss your California workers’ compensation case with a skilled and experienced lawyer.

Free Lawyer Consultation in Worker’s Compensation Cases: Los Angeles, Long Beach, Orange County

If you have any questions, seek the help of an experienced workers’ compensation attorney, preferably a Certified Specialist like the attorneys at the law firm of Cantrell Green.

If you have been injured disabled or made sick at work – and you live in Orange County, the greater Los Angeles area or anywhere in Southern California – we offer a free consultation with an experienced California workers’ compensation lawyer to help you understand your rights and obtain the maximum workers’ compensation benefits that you deserve.

Call for a free consultation: 562-622-4800