Legal Question in Workers Comp in California

You need to immediately be sent to a worker's compensation doctor. However, no doctor will see you unless you have filed a WCAB claim and application. We have clients even in northern California. Feel free to call us at 213.388.7070 for a free consultation.

Your Options regarding Compensation: NONE unless and until a Physician on the MPN writes you are "TTD" Totally Temporarily Disabled.

You deciding you can't work due to crutches never works. Because a Workers Comp Judge can only order what written medical reports find, you need a written medical report documenting your need to either work limited duty or no work for those days.

Is it 'legal' for managers not to assist you finding someone to fill your shift? yes. There is nothing in the California Labor Code requiring the employer to cover the injured workers' shift (of course, there is nothing in the Labor Code requiring the INjured Worker to do it either... it's a matter left up to each individual business).

You had the choice to remain home on crutches and let your shift go uncovered and let the employer take the fallout ... that's what would have occurred had you been in a hospital bed. You write you were forced, but it was just your choice (unless a gun was pointed at your head which, of course, was not.).

You need a real treating physician from the comp insurer's Medical Provider Network (MPN) who will write Off Work Orders that you can fax from that physiican's office to your employer so the burden of finding staff for your shift is made crystal clear to HR and your supervisor.