California Workers' Comp Death Benefits: Dependency, DFEC, and Survivor Strategy
When a California worker dies from an industrial injury or occupational disease, the dependency claim, burial benefit, and DFEC calculation…
Category
Workers' Comp
Workers' compensation in California — WCAB rulings, MPN/QME procedure, third-party PI coordination, and the practice-side of comp claims.
Specific Injury vs. Cumulative Trauma in California Workers' Comp: Why the Designation Changes Everything
Whether an industrial injury is characterized as a specific incident or as cumulative trauma affects which employer is on the risk, the sta…
Challenging the Defense IME in Workers' Comp: Bias Evidence, Cross-Examination, and the Rebuttal Record
A defense-retained IME doctor who examines your client for 20 minutes and writes a report concluding maximum medical improvement is a situa…
Panel QME vs. Agreed Medical Evaluator: Selection Strategy in California Workers' Comp
The medical-legal evaluator controls the California workers' comp case. Whether to pursue a panel QME or negotiate an AME is one of the mos…
The Traveling Employee Exception: AOE/COE Analysis for Workers' Compensation Applicants Who Travel for Work
The going-and-coming rule bars workers' comp coverage for ordinary commute injuries, but employees whose job duties require them to travel…
California Workers' Comp Settlements: Choosing Between Compromise and Release and Stipulation and Award
The C&R and the Stipulation and Award are the two settlement vehicles in California workers' compensation, and the choice between them turn…
Temp Worker Injuries and the Dual-Employer Problem: Navigating the General-Special Employer Split
When a staffing agency worker is hurt on a client company's site, two employers exist — and the question of which one's comp coverage appli…
Vocational Rehabilitation in California Workers' Comp: Maximizing the SJDB and Return-to-Work Fund
The Supplemental Job Displacement Benefit and the Return-to-Work Fund are underutilized recovery tools in California workers' comp. Knowing…
Cannabis Drug Testing and Workers' Comp Benefit Denial: The Causation Defense
Employers and carriers increasingly use post-accident positive THC tests to deny workers' compensation claims through the intoxication defe…
Heat Illness at Work: AOE/COE Analysis, OSHA Standards, and Employer Liability
As extreme heat becomes a recurring occupational hazard, heat illness claims are moving through workers' comp systems with new regulatory t…
Remote Work Injury and Workers' Comp: Building the AOE/COE Case for Home Office Claims
Remote workers injured at home face a more complex AOE/COE analysis than office workers, but the dual nexus test can be satisfied in most j…
Construction Multi-Employer Worksites: Workers' Comp, Third-Party Liability, and the OSHA Framework
Serious injuries on multi-employer construction sites generate both a workers' compensation claim against the direct employer and tort clai…