CaliforniaDeadlines
California workers’ comp deadline calculator
Enter the date of the injury, the letter or the decision. The calculator returns the day the statute sets, shows every step with the rule behind it, and prints the statute’s own words on the page for that deadline.
- Deadlines in the calculator
- 23
- Labor Code sections
- 14
- Deadline pages
- 8
Lab. Code § 5400: 30 calendar days from date of injury. Who acts: the employee.
Enter the date.
Each deadline, with the statute and the decisions
- Workers’ comp claim filing deadline, California30 days to tell the employer; one year to file with the WCAB from the latest of three dates.§ 5400 · § 5401 · § 5405 · 3 in the calculator
- Cumulative trauma date of injury, CaliforniaThe day disability and knowledge that work caused it first meet; the one-year limit runs from it.§ 5412 · § 5405
- 90-day rule for California workers’ comp claims90 days from the claim form, 75 for listed public-safety injuries, or the injury is presumed compensable.§ 5402 · 3 in the calculator
- Workers’ comp payment deadlines and late penaltyFirst TD 14 days after knowledge; late payments +10%, unreasonable delay up to 25%.§ 4650 · § 5814 · 4 in the calculator
- Treating physician objection deadline, California20 days from the report with an attorney, 30 without, to object and open the QME or AME route.§ 4062 · 2 in the calculator
- WCAB petition for reconsideration deadline20 days from service, plus 5, 10 or 20 days for mail, fax or e-mail, then off a weekend.§ 5903 · 1 in the calculator
- New and further disability: five-year limitFive years from the date of injury to claim the original injury caused new and further disability.§ 5410 · 1 in the calculator
- Post-termination workers’ comp claims, CaliforniaClaim after a notice of termination, injury before it: paid only if one of four conditions is shown.§ 3600 · 1 in the calculator
- QME panelChoose a QME from the panel and book the appointment, without an attorney; Strike one name from the QME panel, with an attorney; Earliest day to request a QME panel, with an attorney.On the issue page · 3 in the calculator
- Utilization review and IMRUtilization review decision on a treatment request; Utilization review decision, outer limit; Expedited utilization review decision; Request independent medical review, formulary dispute; Request independent medical review, other treatment disputes.On the issue page · 5 in the calculator
How the days are counted
8 CCR § 10600(a)
“is computed by excluding the first day and including the last”
8 CCR § 10600(b)
“the act or response may be performed or exercised upon the next business day”
8 CCR § 10605(a)(1)
“Five calendar days from the date of service, if the place of address and the place of mailing of the party, attorney or other agent of record being served is within California”
8 CCR § 10605(a)(2)
“Ten calendar days from the date of service, if the place of address and the place of mailing of the party, attorney or other agent of record being served is outside of California but within the United States”
8 CCR § 10605(a)(3)
“Twenty calendar days from the date of service, if the place of address and the place of mailing of the party, attorney or other agent of record being served is outside the United States”
Business days skip weekends and the days WCAB offices are closed, from the CalHR holiday list. A last day on a weekend or WCAB holiday moves to the next business day where the rule allows it; elsewhere the calculator keeps the day and says it is closed.
Also a limit, not a page
Dependents’ claims for a work-related death have their own limit in Labor Code § 5406, counted from the death or the injury. Too few released decisions discuss it for a page of its own.
Labor Code § 5406 →About these deadlines
How are California workers’ compensation deadlines counted?
The first day is excluded and the last included (8 CCR § 10600(a)). A document served by mail, fax or e-mail adds 5 days in California, 10 elsewhere in the United States and 20 abroad when the deadline runs from service (8 CCR § 10605). A WCAB filing due on a weekend or holiday can be made the next business day (§ 10600(b)).
Which deadlines does the calculator cover?
The Labor Code deadlines a claim meets most: notice to the employer, the one-year filing limit, the 90-day rule, first payments and the late-payment penalty, objections to the treating physician, the QME panel, utilization review and IMR, reconsideration, the five-year limit, and the post-termination rule. Each one quotes the statute it counts from.
Can I rely on the date the calculator shows?
It is the statute’s arithmetic on the dates you enter, with every step shown. It cannot see tolling, an extension, or a dispute over when the clock started, and where a rule is unsettled the page says what it assumes. Not legal advice.
Private workspace
Your case already resembles someone else’s. Find whose.
Paste the dispute. The extractor builds the factors, the search finds the decisions the same facts won, and the matter stays saved. Free account.