Hurt at work? How California benefits are calculated, and when they are paid.
See how benefits are calculated
Who must carry coverage, what it costs, and what the auditor will ask.
Start with your obligationsOne site for the two people in every claim. Written by a 35-year carrier-side insurance professional, with every figure linked to the state document it came from. Not a law firm; not a referral service.
Temporary disability rates for 2027 have not been published yet. The DWC usually announces them in November; the 2026 figures below apply until then.
What do you need?
How much workers' comp pays
Two-thirds of your wages, between the state minimum and maximum. Calculator included.
Estimate your weekly rate
Deadlines that matter
30 days to report, one year to file, 90 days for the insurer to decide. Dated to your injury.
See your dates
Your doctor, the MPN and UR
Who picks the doctor, why treatment gets denied, and how the appeal works.
How treatment is decided
Settlements
Compromise and release versus stipulations, and when an offer usually comes.
How settlements work
How your rate is built
Class codes, advisory pure premium rates and why two quotes differ.
Understand your rate
When an employee is injured
The claim form within one working day, Form 5020 within five, and the posting you must keep up.
Your duties, in order
Contractors and 1099s
The ABC test, and what an uninsured subcontractor does to your premium.
Who counts as an employee
Find an attorney
Attorneys who advertise here, by county, with how to check any lawyer's record.
By countyCurrent figures for injuries in 2026
From the Division of Workers' Compensation benefit schedule; data as of November 9, 2026. Every year back to 2013.
The law itself
The Labor Code sections, the forms, the agencies and the rate tables that everything on this site is built from. Reference pages, not opinion.
- The law in plain EnglishA plain-English guide to how California workers' compensation law is built - the no-fault bargain in the Constitution and Labor Code §3600, who is covered, the five benefits, how a claim moves from injury to resolution, who decides disputes, and where the rules live.
- Labor Code sectionsEvery Labor Code, Insurance Code, Business and Professions Code and Title 8 regulation section this site relies on, with a one-line summary, a link to the official text on the Legislature's site, and the pages that cite it.
- The agenciesThe bodies that run California workers' comp - the Division of Workers' Compensation, the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau and the Insurance Commissioner - plus EDD, Cal/OSHA, the Labor Commissioner and the Uninsured Employers Benefits Trust Fund. What each does and when you deal with it.
- FormsThe California workers' comp forms a worker or employer will meet - DWC-1 claim form, Form 5020 employer's report, DWC-7 poster, time-of-hire notice, Request for Authorization, QME panel request forms 105 and 106, the Application for Adjudication and the settlement forms - who files each, when, and under what authority, with links to the official copies.
- Benefit rates by yearTemporary disability minimums and maximums, permanent disability rates, SJDB voucher, SAWW and mileage for every year of injury from 2013 to 2026, from the DWC schedule.
- GlossaryPlain-English definitions of the terms used in California workers' compensation - from AOE/COE and apportionment to utilization review and the X-mod - paraphrased from the Division of Workers' Compensation glossary and the WCIRB's rating guide.